How Caro's state hospital changed over a century

Caro’s state-hospital story starts with a name that belongs to another era. State records say the original buildings were constructed in 1913 and the campus opened in 1914 as the Caro Farm Colony for Epileptics. That is the institution’s historical name. It is not how we would describe people with epilepsy today.

Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget says the Caro campus served as the state’s only residential treatment center for people with seizure disorders until 1997. That is a precise claim about a Michigan-run residential facility, not a claim that no other epilepsy care existed. By the end of that period, the institution’s role had shifted to inpatient psychiatric care for adults.

In 2023, the state completed a new 100-bed, $85 million Caro Psychiatric Hospital to replace the old Caro Center. The current MDHHS hospital page still lists Caro among Michigan’s state-operated inpatient psychiatric hospitals and describes the system’s goal as person-centered care with a path back to the community.

This is an active health-care campus, not a tourist stop. Its local importance is the long, complicated timeline: a state residential institution opened in 1914, its purpose changed, and a modern psychiatric hospital now operates on the site.