Staten Island Developmental Center

Willowbrook State School was constructed in the late 1930s as a model school for the mentally retarded. Willowbrook's population differed considerably from that of other state schools. It was the only school to receive children under age 5 (it had up to 90 residents during the 1950s). Willowbrook received persons from New York City or by transfer from other state schools. Most of the transfers were severely retarded, handicapped, and/or undisciplined cases. Furthermore, Willowbrook had the highest percentage of black and Hispanic residents of any state school. Originally named the Willowbrook Home for the Retarded, the facility was known as the Willowbrook State School from 1947 to 1975.

By the 1970s the institution was notorious for its bad living conditions. Advocates for the mentally retarded succeeded in obtaining a consent decree for the deinstitutionalization of most of Willowbrook's residents. However, in 1983 and 1984 the Court of Appeals muted, then reversed, the original decree requiring deinstitutionalization.