ZURBRUGG MEMORIAL HOSPITAL Riverside New Jersey (Axis Video/Pine Barren Films)
- 6 years ago
Zurbrugg Memorial Hospital was built and opened in 1915.
In July of 1984 as Zurbrugg Memorial Hospital was evacuated due to one of the most historic fires in Riverside's history. The Thermal Reduction Company, located in the old Riverside Metal Works complex behind the Watch Case Factory, was leveled by the fire, and the toxic smoke, as well as the fear of a massive explosion, forced the evacuation of some 45-65 of the hospital's patients to its Willingboro location.
In 2010 it was purchased to be torn down to make room for housing and retail outlets.
We talked to several nurses that worked here while it was open and they spoke of the shady occurrences that happened at Zurbrugg. The demolition of this building was plagued with improper asbestos removal.
We visited this location in the heat of summer. We walked around the site which was surrounded by a large fence as they were preparing to demolish the building. We circled the fence looking for a point of entry and finally found a gap in the fence near the rear of one of the buildings. Upon entry we realized that it was pitch black inside the building, so we turned on our flashlights and started to investigate. We were amazed as to how huge the 1st building was, we started on the bottom floor and being very careful since there was so much debris all over the place. On some of the floors there were gaping holes that would be very easy to fall thru, so we marked them and placed chairs over them to prevent accidents. Some of the rooms still had the medical devices, files and furniture in them. We can only imagine all the horror and torture that the patients must have endured here.
In the engine/garage room we stated a massive amount of pigeons that took up residence. It appeared that no one has been in this room for quite some time judging by all the bird feces on the floor. The location has been visibly vandalized by previous adventure seekers so we were determined to document what was left prior to the buildings being bulldozed in the name of progress. At this time it looked like only 2 buildings have been leveled.
We visited this place a grand total of 3 times to fully explore all the buildings inside and out. There were many issues with the company that was demolishing the buildings due to improperly disposing of the asbestos waste.
In July of 1984 as Zurbrugg Memorial Hospital was evacuated due to one of the most historic fires in Riverside's history. The Thermal Reduction Company, located in the old Riverside Metal Works complex behind the Watch Case Factory, was leveled by the fire, and the toxic smoke, as well as the fear of a massive explosion, forced the evacuation of some 45-65 of the hospital's patients to its Willingboro location.
In 2010 it was purchased to be torn down to make room for housing and retail outlets.
We talked to several nurses that worked here while it was open and they spoke of the shady occurrences that happened at Zurbrugg. The demolition of this building was plagued with improper asbestos removal.
We visited this location in the heat of summer. We walked around the site which was surrounded by a large fence as they were preparing to demolish the building. We circled the fence looking for a point of entry and finally found a gap in the fence near the rear of one of the buildings. Upon entry we realized that it was pitch black inside the building, so we turned on our flashlights and started to investigate. We were amazed as to how huge the 1st building was, we started on the bottom floor and being very careful since there was so much debris all over the place. On some of the floors there were gaping holes that would be very easy to fall thru, so we marked them and placed chairs over them to prevent accidents. Some of the rooms still had the medical devices, files and furniture in them. We can only imagine all the horror and torture that the patients must have endured here.
In the engine/garage room we stated a massive amount of pigeons that took up residence. It appeared that no one has been in this room for quite some time judging by all the bird feces on the floor. The location has been visibly vandalized by previous adventure seekers so we were determined to document what was left prior to the buildings being bulldozed in the name of progress. At this time it looked like only 2 buildings have been leveled.
We visited this place a grand total of 3 times to fully explore all the buildings inside and out. There were many issues with the company that was demolishing the buildings due to improperly disposing of the asbestos waste.