Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven.
H. L. Mencken



What Some Believe:

"All hope abandon, ye who enter here" is the inscription fashioned by Dante for the gates of Hell. It was in no burst of poetic fancy that the sign, "Rosewood -- No Thoroughfare," was placed at the foot of the lane leading to the "training school" for the mentally deficient of Maryland; yet, that inscription is every bit as fitting as Dante's. Escape or death are virtually the only ways out for the unfortunate child committed there. Rosewood, was said to have been strictly a one way, dead-end street.


The Rosewood Center is a psychiatric hospital located in Owings Mills, Maryland.

It was established in 1888 as the Asylum and Training School for the Feeble Minded. From 1912 to 1961, it was known as the Rosewood State Training School. In 1961, the facility was renamed as the Rosewood State Hospital.

After the state departments of health and mental hygiene merged in 1969, the facility was renamed the Rosewood Center. The antiquated facility has been threatened with closing in recent years.

Throughout Rosewood's existence, there have been numerous reports of malpractice and mistreatment. Some have even made claims that patients were tortured on a regular basis. Further investigations proved positive leading to the older buildings' being condemned in 1989.

The old and new facilities stand directly across a field from each other, the newer facility still active housing over half of the people with developmental disabilities who reside in Maryland's four state-run institutions. The old grounds have been known for ghost sightings and have been well traveled through. The main building was burnt in a 2006 case of arson and the site is now under security monitoring.

On January 15, 2008, the state of Maryland announced that Rosewood would close within 18 months.