Greystone fading into black

The endless wings are gone, the magnificent chapel is gone, and the final bricks that used to be Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital are falling.

By the end of 2015, all that will remain of one of Morris County's largest man-made structures will be a footprint.

Demolition crews this week began chipping away at the domed center entry of the 675,000-square-foot, 19th-century Kirkbride Building, which once served as the centerpiece of a sprawling 743-acre campus in Parsippany. The demolition, which began last year, is on schedule to be completed by the end of this year, according to Joseph Perrone, communications director for the state Department of Treasury, which is overseeing the $34.4 million project.

Preserve Greystone, a nonprofit citizen group, fought for more than two years to halt the demolition and urged state officials to consider several expressions of interest by groups interested in redeveloping Greystone for residential or mixed-use purpose. But Treasury officials, with the backing of Gov. Chris Christie, rejected all of them as impractical or cost-prohibitive.

Erected in 1876 as part of a national initiative to reform treatment of the mentally ill in the United States, the Greystone campus once was an entirely self-sustaining community, with its own fire department, post office, working farm and other essentials serving more than 5,000 patients and the staff that cared for them. But over the second half of the 20th century, Greystone fell into disrepair and disfavor, as did the concept of institutionalization.

Late in its useful life, in the early 1960s, famed folksinger Woody Guthrie spent several years there for treatment of Huntington's disease. It was at Greystone where his most famous musical disciple, Bob Dylan, met his hero and inspiration.

The Guthrie Foundation also fought to preserve Greystone, and Woody Guthrie's daughter, Nora Guthrie, hosted a program at the Morris Museum's Bickford Theatre documenting her father's stay in Morris County. A film company captured the demolition, and community preservation efforts as they happened and is producing a Greystone documentary that is  expected to debut in 2016.

A new, smaller Greystone hospital was built on the north end of the sprawling campus and opened to patients in 2008. Most of the Greystone property previously was deeded to Morris County for the establishment of Central Park of Morris County, and the remaining property also will be turned over to Morris County for open-space stewardship and eventual ownership.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-917-9242; wwwesthoven@GannettNJ.com