Posted in Illinois
January 10, 2017
The Stories Behind This Former Illinois Sanitarium Will Astound You
In the mid-1800s, a beautiful limestone building was erected in Batavia. Throughout the many years since, it has been reinvented numerous times to serve a wide array of purposes. Read on for the incredible story of Batavia Institute!
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Its story begins well over 150 years ago.

Batavia Institute was built and run by local Congregational churches for ten years, and students came from many surrounding towns.

He turned the structure into Bellevue Place, a sanitarium for women with mental illnesses.

A Chicago court ordered that former First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln be placed in a mental institution, and she was taken to Bellevue Place.

She was released after just a few months at Bellevue Place.

The home housed unmarried pregnant women and assisted in the adoption process for the children born there. Its history is shrouded in mystery; no records of the home's occupants were left behind.

Taking on its former name of Bellevue Place, the structure is now organized into an assortment of apartments and townhouses.
Do you know any stories about this incredible place? We’d love to hear them! Let us know in the comments.