In 2005, Laura, Hal, and the rest of the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Council formed the Willowbrook Property Planning Committee to help preserve the history of the Willowbrook State School. The committee wanted to create a historic site at CSI (the former grounds of Willowbrook).
With funding from NYS Assemblyman Michael Cusick and CSI, along with support from the CSI Foundation and community donors, the Willowbrook Mile finally came to fruition in September — on the thirty-fifth anniversary of its closure. The Willowbrook Mile consists of 12 milestone stations: Willowbrook Archives, Building 19, Halloran Hospital, Consent Judgement, Isolation to Inclusion, Exposing Conditions at Willowbrook, Baby Unit, Connelly Center, Building 29, Institute for Basic Research, Hepatitis Study, and Gouverneur State School. Each station reminds visiors of the importance of preserving history and maintaining archives.
Committee members and students worked with an architect to brainstorm ideas for the project. They ultimately decided on a mile-long walking trail that promoted the history of Willowbrook. In 2012, the Council partnered with other stakeholders including CSI, the NYS Institute for Basic Research (IBR), and the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) to establish the walking trail on the former Willowbrook site.
"Archives are important because we learn from our history and the mistakes and wrongdoing of the past," Laura said. "Archives help us learn about why the advocacy was so successful: the combination of strong parents, media and the legal system. We need to realize today what a strong factor advocacy is — we’ve come a long way. Even though we have so much to do, we have accomplished a lot. The history of Willowbrook matters because it reminds us what we can never let happen again."
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