[3] The commission president was John Finely, a Peorian, and one of the members was J.J. McAndrews of Chicago who later served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Congressman.

The 1927 history of the hospital, however, gives a different explanation for its abandonment: "The first building erected was a facsimile of a feudal castle, but before it was occupied it was found to be wholly out of harmony with modern ideas for the care of the insane and it was razed and replaced by the present cottage plan, under the direction of Dr. Frederick Howard Wines, the able secretary of the State Board of Charities.

Zeller crusaded for a better public understanding of the mentally ill including inviting newspaper reporters and community members to visit Peoria State.

When the initial auction buyer went bankrupt, developer, Winsley Durand, Jr., took over ownership with the hope of creating office space in the structures.

The grounds consisted of 63 buildings, many of which are residential in nature and laid out to the traditional cottage plan, common for mental hospitals built in the early 20th century.

One well documented legend tells of Manuel A. Bookbinder "Old Book", a patient who worked with the burial crew at the hospital until his own death.

It is said that upon his death his physical form was seen by Dr. Zeller and over a hundred of the patients and nurses that attended his funeral crying at the old elm in the potters field.

[5] In the 1920s, Zeller penned a book titled, Befriending The Bereft, drawn from the mysterious experiences he had at the hospital during his two tenures as superintendent, 1902–1913 and 1921–1935.