For more than 130 years Emmaus has proudly served adults with developmental disabilities in the St. Louis metropolitan area, including on our former campus in Marthasville.
In recent weeks, we learned that the current owners of the Marthasville campus – the Emmaus Village of Marthasville – have begun hosting tours of the property, calling it The Haunted Emmaus Asylum.
We are NOT affiliated with the Emmaus Village of Marthasville and are disappointed with their decision to host an event like this on our former campus.
In their statement, the Emmaus Village of Marthasville says that the Haunted Asylum “experience will include period appropriate depictions of the many stories that have been shared with us.” Sensationalizing hearsay for profit denigrates our more than 130-year history of serving people with developmental disabilities.
While the current owners of the property have plans to preserve the historic buildings on the campus, they are NOT the keepers of our history.
Emmaus was founded in 1893 by the German Evangelical Church, now part of the United Church of Christ, to provide care for people with developmental disabilities, including epilepsy. We were one of the first private organizations in the country to provide this service and people traveled great distances seeking our care for their loved ones. Our early leaders studied with international experts on the best treatments for people with disabilities and historical records show that some of the earliest research for people with epilepsy was performed at Emmaus.
For more information about the mission and ministry of Emmaus, please visit emmaushomes.org.