The Name "Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum," Creates a Firestorm

I am gald to see the "Grand Dame" being restored and I think the name change is fine. Why are so many worried about the name of the building, when for many years she was left to fall down and no one cared, except for the town of Weston. Weston residents understand that the hospital is the heart of this town and many are grateful that the Jordans hasve rescued her from further deterioration.

As a former Weston resident (during High School), I agree with westongal 100%. A rose by any other name..........

I toured the hospital today and was very upset with the name and the ghost tours. It is very disrespectful to the suffering of the people who were committed there. So many people were abused and killed there.....now it seems to be a joke to the owners who are trying to make money from this. It should not have been named "lunatic asylum." That is moving the progress made in mental illness back 250 years, for what.....fun?

The owners could apply for historical grants to work on restoring the building. It may take longer, but would be respectful to the memory of the people who were there.

Don't buy a t-shirt advertising "lunatic asylum." How degrading.

I was in Weston, went by the hospital and noticed it was opened. My family went in and we really didn't understand what was going on until we saw t-shirts with "lunatic asylum" printed on them for sale along with key chains, and other items. It was really in bad taste considering the hopital had many patients that were from all over WV and probably many family members were instituted there that were forgotten and not talked about at the supper table. It was really upsetting to see such a place used as a "joke" and very disrespectful to the public.

If I lived in Weston I would try to stop this "amusement park" in my community. It was horrific in the fact it set mental illness back generations.

Hate it wrote:

IThe owners could apply for historical grants to work on restoring the building. It may take longer, but would be respectful to the memory of the people who were there.

Obviously you have never tried to get grants for "hysterical" restoration. They are VERY hard to get and when you do the restrictions that are included with them are very binding. Let the owners do their own repairs and leave the taxpayers out of it.

But wasn't that the name of it? Historically they were called lunatic asylums. You shouldn't whitewas history. It isn't like "Behavioral Health Facilities" are called lunatic asylums now.

Alb wrote:

But wasn't that the name of it? Historically they were called lunatic asylums. You shouldn't whitewas history. It isn't like "Behavioral Health Facilities" are called lunatic asylums now.

OK....I get it. You guys don't care about the people that had to live through the "horror" of that place.

Let the world know how "uncouth" you folks are.

It's a privately owned building and they can call it whatever they want. It's not a hospital anymore and they are not belittling anyone, past or present. Turning a blind eye to the past doesn't mean it didn't happen. Yes, calling a mentally ill person "insane" is inappropriate today, but that was the term used back then. It's a private commercial enterprise now. The public didn't want to do anything with this beautiful old building, but want to complain now that a private citizen is trying to restore it. I did the Historic Tour and found it really intersting. I plan to go back for a ghost tour. I may even make a donation to the restoration fund. Get over it people.