Austin State Supported Living Center
Austin State Supported Living Center, located in Austin, is home to approximately 333 people with developmental disabilities. The campus includes a canteen, infirmary, theater, nature trail, indoor pool and Jacuzzi, athletic field, a chapel with stained glass windows, and a guest house for visiting family members.
It was launched in 1915, when the Texas legislature passed House Bill 57, creating the State Colony for the Feebleminded, as the first facility specifically to house citizens with mental retardation. It was renamed Austin State School in 1925. The initial census was 65 residents, mostly female. At its peak Austin State School had a census of 2,000 and included a working dairy farm.
In 1965, the Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act authorized county mental retardation centers, with the aim of helping people with mild retardation to live with their families. This caused a shift in the population of residents in State Schools to those with more profound mental retardation and multiple disabilities. By 1974, Austin State School's population had been reduced to 1,400.
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