The history of the Mansfield Training School is part of a network of institutional histories across the country. Former hospitals, training schools, and other residential institutions have left lasting impacts on the communities that surrounded them.

This student research paper by Casey Katz examines the history and transformation of Fairfield Hills Hospital in Newtown, Connecticut. Fairfield Hills was a large state psychiatric institution that has undergone extensive redevelopment, and now serves as a community-centered campus. The redevelopment of Fairfield Hills raises many of the same questions that emerge in conversations about the Mansfield Training School, including how communities remember institutional histories and what happens to these sites after they close.