Greystone Park was created with the dedication of a school teacher that advocated for people with mental illness. Her name was Dorothea Lynde Dix. As a result of her efforts the NJ Legislature allowed her 2.5 Million Dollars to acquire 700 hundred acres of land to construct NJ’s second asylum. At that time it was named “The State Asylum for the Insane at Morristown”. It was a state of the art facility to treat people with mental illness. She chose the area for many conveniences. It was close to the heavy populated areas of NJ (Morristown, Newark, and Parsippany), was able to access by rail, rich soil, plenty of spring water, abundant in Gneiss(similar to granite) and minerals used to make brick.

The Main Building or Original Hospital was designed according to the Kirkbride Plan. Known for using a linear plan, he advocated for no more than 250 patients in a 3 story building with light, airy rooms and only 2 patients per room. Another thing that he believed was that Asylums should be built out of stone, brick, slate and iron, using as little wood as possible to reduce the risk of fires. It was made up of the center administrative section which also had areas for activities, and 3 wings extending out of its sides. It was lighted by coal gas, which was brought to the facility by rail and made into gas at a processing plant on the grounds. When it comes to heating the place they used steam that was sent through large copper coils in the basement and went through duct in the walls before finally be dispersed throughout the building via vents. In the wings they housed around 20-30 patients depending on how may had private rooms. Back then they would charge $3.50 a week for a double room and for a private "apartment" it would range between $5-10 a week. Each wing also had its own parlor, dining, enclosed galleries for exercise, Attendents room. This was for the night attendee so he/she could sleep between 8:30pm and 4:30am before the patients were woken up for morning routine. If you looked around you would see many comforts of home, wool rugs, pianos, pictures and beautiful Victorian furniture. It was important to give the area a more relaxed atmosphere. Some of the wards were not the ‘homiest’. These held the most excitable patients. It help mostly heavy oak furniture and doors. The doors often had holes in the bottom to slide food trays under.

August 17th 1876, Greystone opens its doors to accept patients. The first day they received almost 300 patients most of which were transported by train from the asylum in Trenton NJ. It at that time was allowed to hold up to 600 patients. By 1887, 11 years after opening, most of the exercise rooms were turned into patient quarters to allow the hospital to hold more people due to over crowding. The new max limit was 800 patients.

In 1894 The NJ State Hospital Training School for Nurses was established. The building was used for educating and training women to be nurses. They were tested often and had to meet certain requirements to be admitted.

1901- The dormitory building was constructed to relieve overcrowding. It sat behind the Main Building. The dormitory building stopped housing patients in 1992 and was demolished in 2005

1908- Greystone Park Post Office opens.

1921- The Curry Complex was built. It consisted of a new power plant, barns, greenhouses, fire station and auxillary buildings. It also held the Clinic Building and Reception Building. The Clinic Building opened in 1923 and closed in 1975. The Reception Building was closed in 1976.

1924- The hospital was renamed Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.

1929- Greystone experienced its first fire. It was in the Main Building and destroyed the attic.

1930- The second fire accured. It burned down the 5th and 6th floors of the administrative section of the Main Building. Also the Chest Building and 30 Ellis Drive opened to patients. The Chest building was used as the TB Treatment Center for the mentally ill. Due to the decrease in TB the building closed in the 1970’s. 30 Ellis Drive was used to house children and in the 1980’s was remodeled for adult occupancy.

1939- The hospital population was about 5600 people. With having so many people on the grounds they employed hundreds of patients and staff to care for the gardens, dairy and furniture shops.

1940- 10 and 50 Ellis Drive is complete and is renovated in 1974. During this time a lot of patients were those coming back from World War II. They were often treated to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This illness was treated with Insulin Shock Coma and ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy).

Late 1970-1980’s Greystone saw a decrease in patients due to the deinstitutionalize movement.

1982- The campus expands again. It now includes 20 cottages. Each was called a Mountain Meadow Cottage.

1999- An affiliation agreement was implemented between Greystone and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). This helped enhance the skills of the clinicians and nurses at Greystone. Also, this brought a new array of services to the patients.

2001- Plans go forth to build a new hospital to now hold up to 520 patients. They decided to keep the cottages but all other offices etc… will be in the new hospital. The hospital will continue to treat the mentally ill in the Northern Region of NJ.

2008- All patients and staff are bussed to the new hospital to continue business. Most of the buildings are gone. The demolition of the Curry Building was made very public. The grounds where it stood will be a park for handicapped children. What will happen to the original hospital is still up in the air. Right now it is in the states hands.