Southbury Training School

Written by: Anika Agrawal
Contact: aanika183@gmail.com

Southbury Training School (STS) is the last remaining Connecticut state institution for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Officially opened in 1940 to relieve overcrowding at Mansfield Training School, STS is inseparable from the institution it was built to relieve, and it carries its own difficult history of mistreatment and neglect. I developed the website linked below for an independent study completed under the mentorship of Dr. Brenda Brueggemann, drawing on state records, newspaper coverage, and oral histories. Understanding these stories is essential to changing the systems that have caused, and continue to cause, harm to these populations. I hope this research helps you learn more about STS and the people who lived there.

Front view of the Southbury Training School's main administration building, a large red-brick institutional building with a white-columned entrance and central cupola, set behind a grassy lawn.

Explore the Southbury Training School website here.