| Creedmoor Psychiatric Center | |
|---|---|
 Winchester Boulevard entrance | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Queens Village,Queens, New York, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°44′29″N73°43′54″W / 40.74139°N 73.73167°W /40.74139; -73.73167 |
| Organization | |
| Care system | Medicaid, private |
| Type | Specialist |
| Network | New York State Office of Mental Health |
| Services | |
| Speciality | Psychiatry |
| Links | |
| Lists | Hospitals in New York State |
| Other links | Hospitals in Queens |
Creedmoor Psychiatric Center is apsychiatric hospital at 79-26 Winchester Boulevard inQueens Village,Queens,New York,United States. It provides inpatient, outpatient, and residential services for severelymentally ill patients. The hospital occupies more than 300 acres (121 ha) and includes more than 50 buildings.[1]
The site was named after the Creed family, which farmed on the site. It later was used as a firing range from the 1870s until 1892. The Farm Colony of Brooklyn State Hospital was opened on the site in 1912, with 32 patients. By 1959, the hospital housed 7,000 inpatients. The hospital's census declined by the early 1960s, and unused portions were sold off and developed into theQueens County Farm Museum, a school campus, and a children's psychiatric center.
The hospital's name is aportmanteau derived from Creed - the name of the previous family who owned a farm at the site - and apparent geographical similarities to the British "moorlands". The local railroad station - on aline running fromLong Island City toBethpage - took the name "Creedmoor;" apparently coined by British visitors in reference to the local geography and former use of the site as a rifle range having been reminiscent of the moors back in Britain, owing to the designation "Creed's Moor."[2] In the early 1870s, the state of New York purchased the land from the Creeds for a railway easement, later used by theNational Guard andNational Rifle Association of America (NRA) as a firing range. TheCreedmoor Rifle Range hosted prestigious international shooting competitions, becoming the forerunner of thePalma Trophy competition.[3] In 1892, as a result of declining public interest and mounting noise complaints from the growing neighborhood, the NRA deeded its land back to the state.[3]
In 1912, the Lunacy Commission of New York State opened the Farm Colony of Brooklyn State Hospital at the Creedmoor site, with 32 patients, in line with a trend for sending the growing number of urban psychiatric patients to the "fresh air" of outlying areas. Intakes at the former National Guard barracks rapidly expanded over the coming years, with a self-reported census reported a total of 150 inpatients housed at Creedmore by 1918. By 1959, the hospital housed 7,000 inpatients.[2] Creedmoor was described as a "crowded, understaffed institution" in Susan Sheehan's biographyIs There No Place On Earth For Me? (1982), detailing the experiences of pseudonymously-namedSylvia Frumkin. Dr.Lauretta Bender, a child neuropsychiatrist, was reported to have been practicing at the hospital between the 1950s and 1960s. In December 1977, one of Creedmoor's most notorious patients, formerNYPD officer Robert Torsney, was committed to the hospital after being foundnot guilty by reason of insanity for the 1976 murder of then-15 year-oldRandolph Evans in Brooklyn. Torsney was held at Creedmoor until his release in July 1979 following a psychiatric review which declared he was no longer a threat.
Intakes began to decline by the early 1960s in concert with the development of newpsychiatric medications and push fordeinstitutionalization of many psychiatric patients. In 1975, a site previously used to farm produce for the hospital at Creedmoor'sGlen Oaks campus was opened to the public as theQueens County Farm Museum.[4] Another part of the Glen Oaks campus was repurposed as theQueens Children's Psychiatric Center.[5] In 2004, an additional site was redeveloped for Glen Oaks public school campus andThe Queens High School of Teaching, and by 2006, all remaining parts of the Creedmoor campus were sold, with only 470 inpatients at the hospital.[2] A more recent portrayal of Creedmoor appears in Katherine Olson'sSomething More Wrong (2013).[6]
There are several unused buildings on the property, including the long-abandoned Building 25. Many parts of the building are covered in birdguano, the largest pile being several feet high.[7] In August 2023, a shelter for migrants opened at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, amid a sharp increase in the number ofasylum seekers traveling to the city.[8][9]
In February 2023, theEmpire State Development Corporation announced that it would redevelop 55 acres (22 ha) of the Creedmoor site.[10] The state government proposed 2,873 residences there that December;[11][12] local residents objected that aland use planning review had not been conducted before the plans were announced.[13] Following wealthy NIMBYs expressing opposition to the highpopulation density of the proposed redevelopment, nearly 800 apartments were removed from the plan.[12][14] In November 2025, the state government approved a plan to redevelop the site with 2,022 residences (half of which would beaffordable housing) and school. At the time, the development's first phase was scheduled to take two or three years.[15][16]
The hospital's notable ventures includeThe Living Museum, which showcases artistic works by patients and is the first museum of its kind in the U.S.[17]
| Adult / children facilities |  | |
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| Adult facilities | ||
| Children's facilities | ||
| Forensic facilities | ||
| Research facilities | ||
| Closed facilities | ||
| Sanatorium | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
