Demolition of buildings at Legacy Park in Northville took place last week when building 17 was razed to make way for new construction. Building17 was the former Services Building at Northville Psychiatric Hospital and was approximately 48,000 square feet in size before it was demolished. The building was constructed in 1954 and was used for occupational therapy, dining and storage. The building was also used to prepare and store food for the hospital operations.
There was a rail spur adjacent to the building coming from the railway along Northville Road. Trains would back into the site and either drop off coal for the power plant (demolished in 2013) or food supplies. Northville Township acquired the 332-acre Legacy Park property surrounding the former Northville Psychiatric Hospital in 2009 after a millage election. Demolition of 20 buildings began in 2012. The nine-story, approximately 252,000-square-foot centerpiece came down in 2018, following hundreds of trespassing arrests in both 2017 and 2016. The township now has an extensive security system installed at the site to deter trespassing.
