Editing Beatrice, Nebraska (section)

===Beatrice State Developmental Center===
In 1885, the Nebraska legislature enacted legislation to establish the Institution for Feeble Minded Youth near Beatrice, subject to the city's donating a suitable parcel of land.<ref name=histofgage/>{{rp|303}}  Beatrice donated 40 acres, located {{convert|2|mi|sigfig=1}} east of the city limits, and the first residents were admitted in 1887.<ref name=feeblenomform/>

Over the following decades, the institution expanded greatly. By 1935, there were 1171 residents living on {{convert|519|acre}}.  The institution was largely self-supporting, operating a farm on which the residents did much of the work; in 1935, {{convert|346|acre}} were under cultivation.<ref name=feeblenomform/>

In 1945, the institution was renamed the Beatrice State Home.<ref name=rename1/> Its resident population peaked at about 2300 in the late 1960s.<ref name=ljshist/>  From there it declined: new restrictions had been imposed on the use of unpaid labor by residents of institutions, and there was a national trend toward [[deinstitutionalization]].<ref name=feeblenomform/>  In 1975, the ''Horacek v. [[J. James Exon|Exon]]'' lawsuit was settled with a consent decree whereunder many of the residents of the Beatrice State Home were transferred to [[Community mental health service|community-based mental health facilities]].<ref name=horacek/>  In that year, the institution's name was changed to the current Beatrice State Developmental Center.<ref name=indictment/>

A 2006 investigation by the federal [[Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services]] revealed a number of severe deficiencies at the Center;<ref name=fedmed/> after two years of appeals, the Center lost its [[Medicaid]] certification in 2009.<ref name=medicaid/>

As of 2011, the Center served about 175 clients.<ref name=bsdc/>  The majority had been diagnosed with "severe" or "profound" retardation; nearly all suffered from two or more other disabling conditions.<ref name=bsdc-demo1/><ref name=bsdc-demo2/>

[[File:Detailed map of Beatrice, Nebraska.png|thumb|Beatrice and environs]]