by Shannon Butler
Over the past few months all of us have watched with great interest as day by day bits and pieces of the Cheney Memorial Building at the Hudson River State Hospital came crashing to the ground. Clouds of smoke, piles of brick, and chunks of steel mixing together in a massive mess that has now all but disappeared from our landscape. The building took two years to complete, cost over $9 million in construction costs, and stood for less than 70 years. So now that it’s gone and new creations are forming in its wake, let us take a look at the man the building was named for, Dr. Clarence O. Cheney.
Cheney was born right here in Poughkeepsie on July 10th 1887. His father Albert O. Cheney had served in the 5th New York Infantry during the Civil War and later established a grocery on Main Street here in Poughkeepsie. His mother, Caroline was from the Adriance family and they lived at no. 88 Garden street. Cheney was educated in local schools including Poughkeepsie High School where he served as the Class President for the class of 03’ and then he headed off to Columbia University. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1911. He worked his way up at the Utica State Hospital before being made the Superintendent of the Hudson River State Hospital at the age of 39 in 1926.
Life in the hospital was no doubt a stressful experience for him. By 1927 there were over 4,000 patients under his care, in a facility with a max capacity of 3,338, but he saw to it that improvements were made. Cheney was interested in “the use of new drugs and emphasized the pathological examinations and X-Ray in the treatment and study of the mentally ill.” During his 5 years in service there several buildings were added to the site including the Avery Chapel, Brookside Infirmary, and the Avery Home where the nursing school operated. However, the campus still needed more room for extra beds. In 1932, Cheney left the hospital to take on a new role as Director of the State Hospital and Institute of Psychiatrics in New York City. He eventually retired in 1946 but still continued to teach clinical psychiatry at Cornell. He died at his home in White Plains in 1947 at the age of 60 and is buried in Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.
The need for a bigger facility was certainly clear in Cheney’s time and by the late 40’s it was even more necessary. The 1949 report for the hospital shows that they were overcrowded by 796 patients, that means that they had people sleeping in makeshift beds and mattresses on floors between other patients. It also was extra taxing on the staff to deal with so many added cases. However, the 1949 report mentions the good news that groundbreaking was about to occur for their new building which was designed by John B. Peterkin, and could house an additional 950 patients plus serve as extra reception service and more space for the school of nursing. The report states that the building would cost $8 million but it ended up costing much more. The building was opened in June of 1952 with Mrs. Cheney and her son Robert in attendance. During the dedication Dr. James Wall concluded “this building certainly will be of concrete helpfulness to many thousands of individuals down through the years and will reflect with splendor the ideals of service, the character and the ability of the man for whom it is named.” In its time, it certainly did that, but those days are gone.
References:
Poughkeepsie Journal – 1 Jun 1908, 25 Apr 1902, 12 Jun 1952, 21 Apr 1926, 1 Jul 1931, 27 Jun 1946
Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the Hudson River State Hospital, 1926, 1927, 1949, 1952 – LH Box 362.11 H
History of the Cheney Memorial Building at the Hudson River Psychiatric Center (Hudson River State Hospital) – Compiled by Yvonne Laube, Town of Poughkeepsie Historic Preservation Commission, May 3, 2020
Images:
Article mentioning Cheney’s retirement from the Poughkeepsie Journal, 27 Jun 1946
Article of Cheney taking charge of HRSH, Poughkeepsie Journal, 21 Apr 192
Photo showing a birds-eye-view of the Cheney Building
Black and White Image of Cheney, c. 1950s, New York State Office of Mental Health
Color image of Cheney, c. 2000, HRSH Nurses’ Alumni
Color Image of beginning of demolition of Cheney, 2020, Yvonne Laube
Color image of Cheney under demolition taken by drone, Oct 2020, Lisa Marie Blohm
Color image of the site where Cheney stood, after demolition has been completed, Sept 26, 2020. Yvonne Laube
