Standing since 1859
Three buildings watch over the Emmaus valley: the Church, the Asylum — the Setz Building — and the Administration Building. They have been here since before the Civil War, and they have never once been ordinary.
1859
The first stones were laid in the Emmaus valley outside Marthasville before the Civil War. German immigrants built here the way they built everything — thick walls, high windows, and a chapel at the heart of it. The campus that grew around it would stand watch over the valley for more than a century and a half.
1893 →
For generations the campus served as a home and asylum for those the outside world had no place for — hundreds of residents lived, worked, worshipped, and died on these grounds. The Setz Building held the wards. The Administration Building held the records. The Church held everyone, in the end.
The Quiet
When the institution finally closed its doors, the valley went quiet. Paint peeled in the corridors, the wards emptied, and the buildings settled into the dark. Locals told stories. Some of the staff never quite stopped visiting. The stories didn't stop either.
Today
Ben and Mandy Johnson took on the property to restore some of the most incredible structures in Missouri history. Alongside the restoration runs a research effort — our team has tracked down former employees of the asylum to validate the stories and legends of the property, separating what's history from what's folklore. What can't be explained, we investigate. You're invited to help.
A word of respect — real people lived and died here. Our research honors them: we verify the stories, we name what we can, and we don't invent tragedy for ticket sales. The activity we investigate speaks for itself.
See for yourself