Old Menninger's Clinic and Grounds
During the 20th century Topeka was known internationally as the home of Menninger, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study of mental illness and founded by Dr. Karl Menninger and his father, Dr. Charles F. Menninger. In 1920 the Menningers opened a group psychiatric practice that they named the Menninger Clinic; they were joined in 1925 by William, Charles’s younger son. The family is credited with introducing psychiatry to America. Karl Menninger’s The Human Mind was the first book on psychiatry to become a bestseller. The Menningers opened the nonprofit Menninger Foundation, the world’s largest psychiatric training center, in 1941. {text provided by Kansas Historical Society}
The whole campus is closed with No Trespassing signs posted, so must observe from a distance for now. The future of this building looks incredibly bleak… does it have to be?
Washburn Law school needs a new building, and there has been talks of using the existing law school for additional WU undergrad programs.
Perhaps instead of building a new building, the Law School could purchase/renovate the Menninger Clinic? It would make sense because there isn’t a lot of room on campus for a new building as it is, the Law School could add LLM programs or additional faculty/staff, it would preserve a historical landmark, and it would be cheaper than building a new building from scratch.
Thoughts?
its owned by saint Francis now, they plan on putting a hospital there at one point. the place is huge and it has been destroyed on the inside by teenagers(hundreds of windows broken, human waste and spray paint on everything so it would not be worth it for Washburn to try to restore it if they could get it from saint Francis.)