50 YEARS AGO

Center’s construction to start

Construction of a $1.5 million (about $41 million today) Center for the Disabled would begin Oct. 1 on five acres on Manning Boulevard near St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany. The United Cerebral Palsy Association of the Capital District had received grants and financing from the State Department of Mental Hygiene and the State Housing Finance Agency to build the 30,000square-foot complex which would provide services and educational programs for children with physical and mental needs.

The building would have an attractive environment and would offer 17 classrooms and space for administrative staff, a child guidance center, a dental unit, facilities for assessing the children and a swimming pool. The three agencies responsible for the programs — UCPA, Child Guidance and Eleanor Roosevelt Developmental Services — anticipated reaching 1,000 disabled during the first year of operation.