State Hospital South’s unmarked graves get headstones

State Hospital South in Blackfoot hosted its 130th-anniversary celebration on Wednesday. It included a dedication of the final set of headstones at the hospital’s cemetery.

Staff and volunteers are celebrating the dedication and the completion of the headstone project. It started with just 15 headstones for more than 1,000 graves.

State Hospital South’s headstone project has taken about eight years of fundraising and volunteer work to get each and every grave a headstone.

“So the cemetery that we’re in today was established in the 1800s, and people have been buried here from 1800s up until the 1980s. And today we’re celebrating the community support that we’ve had to being able to mark all of the headstones for the over 1,000 patients that are buried here,” said Tracey Sessions, State Hospital administrator.

Community help came in many different forms: local businesses, hospitals from other areas, and Eagle Scouts. The 1,008 headstones placed are the results of a huge collaborative effort.

“Early on, this used to just be a field that wasn’t maintained much. I mean, it was difficult to even get water to it. And, you know, over the past five years, I would say, it’s really been a project that the hospital has put a lot of effort into,” said Randy Walker, the State Hospital director of nurses.

Hospital staff have many stories about people searching for family members and finding them at the hospital grave site. Those with family laid to rest here, as well as the staff, are filled with emotion knowing these past patients finally have marked headstones to memorialize them.

“It’s a personal touch to me, I take self-pride in this. Ever since I started here, this is been my goal to finish this up and to make this look as pretty as it possibly can; and to help those families have a park to be able to come to and to enjoy,” said Darin Schneider the landscape superintendent.

With its founding in Blackfoot some 130 years ago, the hospital is on the same grounds and has served over 29,000 patients.

Since its founding in 1886 as the Idaho Insane Asylum, State Hospital South has come a long way. The hospital now provides psychiatric treatment and skilled care for people with persistent mental illnesses.

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