Around 1936, my grandma and three of her siblings were placed in one of the Eschweiler buildings to be taken care of due to my great grandparents not having enough money to take care of them at the time. The amount of time my grandma lived there is not clear, however, I know it was at least 18 months. I have some pictures of the children (my grandma and her brother and sisters) during the time when their parents came to visit. I was told the children were basically dressed in "rags" on a day to day basis, but when parents came, the children were changed into nicer clothes for the visitation and for the pictures. Furthermore, I believe my great grandma was placed in a sanitorium "down the road" to be treated for some type of nervous breakdown at the same time the children were at the orphanage. I think the sanitorium may be the present Technology Innovation Center, but I am not sure. The stories I have been told are quite vague, unfortunately, my grandma passed away in march, so I am unable to find out more information from her. However, I do have plans to ask my great aunts more about it. I have always found the Eschweiler Buildings to be very intriguing, so if anybody has more information please post it as I would be very grateful. Once I speak with my aunts I will pass on any information they tell me.
The land behind those buildings is known as potters field. there is a sign explaining what the building were with some of the doctors names. this sign also marks some unmarked graves where the people who stayed in those buildings are buried.
we took a walk through there 2 weeks ago. the land has been cleaned up a littlle better and most of the windows have new boards on them
SWIGS
