Due to the overwhelming number of U.S. Civil War veterans suffering from mental disorders, a large number of asylums were built in the last half of the 19th century.  This was a lucky break for the developers of "A-88," as the asylum was known at that time.  I wish I could romanticize the asylum's history at this point by telling you that "A-88" was some sort of code with a hidden meaning, but in reality it was nothing more than the project number assigned to it by the powers that be.  Traditionally, contract numbers were not assigned in this format, but A-88 had to be different enough to enable the doctors and contractors to refer to it by this title without fear of other community members tracing the project back to this particular asylum.  Any confusion in this regard was intentional.

Unlike the other asylums erected at this time, A-88 needed to house a secret.  The original plan was to build twin asylums, one on top of the other.  The underground asylum was to contain the special patients while the upper asylum would consist of traditional patients.  This concept died for two reasons - the doctors refused to "bury" any patients underground and the government found it difficult to finance such a huge project in a timely manner.  Thus the concept was born to build what appeared to be a traditional asylum of the time, but utilize tricks of psychology to hide it from the public.  I wonder now if any of them had any idea how successfully this idea would work.