Stories From the Bowen Building:
A podcast on the Peoria State
Hospital
Welcome to Alpha Park Library’s Peoria
State Hospital Podcast website!
Each episode will be available here every Friday beginning August 5, 2022.
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This week, we discuss the closing of the Peoria State Hospital,
and its effect on the patients, staff, and community with Bill Turner and Dr. James Ward.
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In Episode 4, we spoke to three different staff members from the Peoria State Hospital, as they chronicle
the major technological and medical advances they witnessed in the 1960s and 1970s. We speak to Drs. James
Ward and Robert Flanigan, and return again to our conversation with nurse Beverly Ward.
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Episode 3 of Stories from the Bowen Building includes interviews with two of the nurses from Peoria State
Hospital, Beverly Grimes and Connie Dean.
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Episode 2 features two interviews with the staff members of the Peoria State Hospital, Bill Turner and
Evelyn Stafford. Evelyn worked for the Grace Abbot Children’s Center. Bill worked in many different roles
while at the Peoria State Hospital, including his role in Activities for adolescent boys.
Evelyn
Stafford and her husband in their wedding photos
Heidi
and Evelyn
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Looking for more information on the Peoria State Hospital?
Check out our digital collection, and see
what you can view in-person at Alpha Park Public Library
HERE
This podcast is funded by the American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries, which is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.