The 640-acre hospital campus in Lakewood sits on some of the most historic ground in Washington state. But Western State is also the state’s largest mental care facility; about 2,000 workers serving more than 1,500 patients a year mingle with historical buildings and sites that reach back 150 years.

City Councilman Walter Neary, who co-authored a history of Lakewood, said the hospital “holds the keys to the pioneer heritage of Washington Territory. The whole area is soaked in history.”

The campus contains the site of Fort Steilacoom, built in 1849, the first American presence north of the Columbia River. Neary, a director of the Lakewood Historical Society, calls the fort “the crown jewels” of state history.

History also set up the clash between hospital operational needs and historic preservation. After the fort closed in 1868, the hospital was located there several years later, when Washington was still a territory.

The hospital won’t touch the old fort’s remains, officers’ quarters built in 1858. But hospital officials want to take down nearby Cottage Row, which is visible from Steilacoom Boulevard.

The cottages were built in 1934 and 1948 and once served as residences for doctors and the hospital superintendent. They are vacant, are expensive to maintain and contain asbestos and lead paint.

The hospital also wants to remove a couple of deteriorating brick buildings built in 1887-89. They once were a bakery-butcher shop and a morgue.

Within the next decade, the hospital is looking at taking down a 1925 chapel and three other buildings.

Despite the history of the brick structures, “they’re in bad shape,” and the state plans to take them down along with the five cottages, said Jim Stevenson, spokesman for the state Department of Social and Health Services.

State and local officials will meet March 18 to discuss the hospital’s plans.

The old morgue, with its arched doors and windows, sits next to a pioneer cemetery that contains the grave of William Wallace. His headstone epitaph says he was the fifth territorial governor of Washington and the first territorial governor of Idaho. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him to both offices.

Wallace died in Steilacoom in 1879.

The bakery-butcher shop is the oldest brick structure on the hospital campus, said Russell Holter, a compliance reviewer for the state Department of Archaeology & Historic Preservation. It and the morgue probably were built before Washington became a state in 1889.

The 880-square-foot bakery-butcher shop is surrounded by a cyclone fence. It has holes in the main roof, and state building records say the siding, flooring and interior surfaces also are failing. The roof in the lower, back part of the building has collapsed.

The morgue contains 1,516 square feet. State building records show its roof, flooring, siding and interior surfaces are failing.

Western State officials also have talked about demolishing the old Firwood High School building (built in 1938), a nearby building (1938), and the old chapel in the next decade.

Those buildings, still in use for offices and other things, would make way for a new patients building, said facilities manager Chris Campbell.

The hospital is looking at removing a much larger building nearby, containing 68,392 square feet. It was built in 1945 and is used for storage.

The building is leased by the state Department of Corrections and was considered three years ago as a transfer site for the Progress House work release program in Tacoma. Progress House must move so that Pierce County can expand Remann Hall juvenile detention center.

Lakewood residents and city officials objected to the proposed move, and the city adopted permit restrictions to try to stop it.

The Department of Corrections says it’s aware of the hospital’s long-term demolition plans. Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Weathersby said the agency continues to look at relocation sites but has nothing to announce at the moment.

Lakewood officials won’t issue any demolition permits right now. They want to see Western State’s revised master plan first to see how it all fits together, said Dave Bugher, assistant city manager. The city expects that plan sometime this year.

The city’s Landmarks & Heritage Advisory Board has discussed the hospital’s plans.

Neary said the city doesn’t have the money to pour into historic preservation on the state hospital campus.

He said he’s less concerned about the removal of the five cottages. He’s also unsure how many people other than him care whether the two older brick buildings are preserved, since they stand behind the main buildings and aren’t seen by the public.

But Neary said “it would be a horrible shame” to lose the bakery-butcher shop and morgue, and he doesn’t want to see the chapel go.

Rob Tucker: 253-597-8374