MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Central State Hospital in Milledgeville has had many names: the state lunatic asylum, the Georgia State Sanitarium, the Milledgeville State Hospital and, now, Central State Hospital. The campus opened in 1842 and became the world's largest mental hospital.
Last year Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order to demolish three structures: the Green, Jones and Walker buildings.
However, one Baldwin County authority — along with a Perry engineering firm — will not give up on saving the buildings.
"I hope to look at a way to bring more businesses and change to refurbish the buildings to be part of the community, to improve the community," Baldwin County resident Mary Demian says.
Demian is the executive director of the Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority or CSHLRA. They're a group of people who are helping build the economy and businesses at Central State Hospital.
At one point, it was the largest mental hospital with roughly 12,000 patients.
For many in Baldwin County and Milledgeville, they want to see the buildings at Central State Hospital refurbished — not destroyed.
And according to Demian, she says there might be some hope: Perry engineering company, Ambyron Design, has proposed using three buildings to build a new community instead of tearing the buildings down.
"They want to have it like a housing like college or assistant living housing or like they say their dream is to have a city within a city," Demian says.
Right now, Ambryon Design is in the waiting phase. They must wait around 90 days to hear back from state agencies on whether they can acquire the buildings from the government.
Nowadays, there is still a hospital, but it is much smaller, she says. Demian says she hopes to bring back a community to Central State by refurbishing the Jones, Walker and Green buildings. She says she sees the three buildings alongside of the campus becoming a walking mall.
Some people in town still remember seeing these three buildings up and running especially the Green Building.
Johnny Grant is a member of the CSHLRA and a former state senator. He says he remembers growing up with his family working at Central State Hospital.
"It was used as a residential and treatment facility for the clients at Central State Hospital," Johnny Grant says.
Now the building is abandoned, and the state says it's been vandalized and is unsafe.
For people like Grant with vivid memories of Central State Hospital, they're holding on to a little hope that Ambryon Design may fix up the Grant, Jones, and Walker buildings and preserve a piece of Milledgeville history.