Early history The Fernald Center, originally called the Experimental School for Teaching and Training Idiotic Children, was founded in Boston by reformer
Samuel Gridley Howe in 1848 with a $2,500 appropriation from the
Massachusetts State Legislature. The school gradually moved to a new permanent location in Waltham between 1888 and 1891. It eventually encompassed 72 buildings across . At its peak, the school confined some 2,500 people, most of them "
feeble-minded" boys. Under its third
superintendent, Walter E. Fernald (1859–1924), the school was viewed as a model educational facility in the field of
mental retardation and doctors and politicians from across the country and the world would travel to Waltham to study the methods employed at the center. Fernald was instrumental in the establishment of the first independent farm colony for the disabled (
The Templeton Colony) and early concepts of special education. However, though he never supported forced sterilization, Fernald was an important figure in the eugenics movement, advocating for the segregation of mentally disabled children from society and coining the term “Defective Delinquent” to describe criminally-inclined mentally disabled children. It wasn’t until the end of his life that he had a reversal of many of these ideas, fighting against the segregation of most mentally disabled children, rejecting IQ tests, and supporting community education and out-patient clinics. However, by this time, many of his ideas about forced segregation and mass institutionalization had already entered the American mainstream. The school was renamed in his honor in 1925, following his death the previous year. The institution did serve a large population of children with cognitive disabilities (referred to as "mentally retarded children"), but
The Boston Globe estimates that upwards of half of the inmates tested with
IQs in the normal range. In the 20th century, living conditions were spartan or worse; approximately 36 children slept in each
dormitory room. There were also reports of physical and sexual abuse.
Nuclear medicine research in children The Fernald School was the site of the 1946–53 joint experiments by
Harvard University and
MIT that exposed young male children to tracer doses of
radioactive isotopes. Documents obtained in 1994 by the
United States Department of Energy revealed the following details: • The experiment was conducted in part by a research fellow sponsored by the
Quaker Oats Company. Part of the study involved adding radioactive iron and calcium into oatmeal and milk, then feeding the mixture to Fernald students. • MIT Professor of Nutrition Robert S. Harris led the experiment, which studied the absorption of
calcium and
iron. • The boys were encouraged to join a "Science Club", which offered larger portions of food, parties, and trips to
Boston Red Sox baseball games. • The 57 club members ate
iron-enriched cereals and
calcium-enriched milk for breakfast. In order to track absorption, several
radioactive calcium tracers were given orally or intravenously. • Radiation levels in stool and blood samples would serve as dependent variables. • In another study, 17 subjects received iron supplement shots containing radioisotopes of iron. • Neither the children nor their parents ever gave adequate
informed consent for participation in a scientific study. The
Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, reporting to the
United States Department of Energy in 1994, reported on these experiments: It has been claimed that the highest dose of radiation that any subject was exposed to was 330
millirem, the equivalent of less than one year's
background radiation in
Denver. A 1995 class-action suit resulted in a 1998 District court decision awarding the victims a $1.85 million settlement from MIT and Quaker. This study showed that their iodine metabolism was similar to normal controls.
Reform lawsuit This situation changed in the 1970s, when a class action suit,
Ricci v. Okin, was filed to upgrade conditions at Fernald and several other state institutions for persons with intellectual disability in Massachusetts. U.S. District Court Judge
Joseph Louis Tauro, who assumed oversight of the case in 1972, formally disengaged from the case in 1993, declaring that improvements in the care and conditions at the facilities had made them "second to none anywhere in the world". A result for Fernald residents of the class action suit which took effect in 1993 was the provision of "a guaranteed level of care, regardless of cost, to compensate for decades of neglect and abuse". Fernald was the subject of a 2005 documentary film "Front Wards, Back Wards" directed by W.C. Rogers, which has been shown on some
PBS television stations. , Fernald remained open with 13 residents living on grounds, the oldest of whom was 84 years old and a resident since the age of 19. It was reported to cost approximately per client per year, or about four times the United States national average for a state-supported institution. The Fernald Center's last resident was discharged on Thursday, November 13, 2014, after a protracted legal and political battle which cost the Commonwealth of Massachusetts over $40 million in additional costs over the projected closure date of 2010. Remaining residents were integrated into community services or other state-operated programs. In 2014 the land was purchased by the city of Waltham in two parcels, 139 acres for $2.7 million paid out of Community Preservation Act funds, and 40 acres for $800,000 of city funds. The CPA section may only be used for open space, recreation, or historic preservation. The 40 acre portion has no restrictions for future use. There was a period of discussion about building a new high school for Waltham on a section of the site, but eventually the proposal was discarded due to difficult topography, potential soil contamination, and a denial of approval from the Massachusetts Historical Commission related to the demolition of certain buildings on the site. ==Current status==