Throughout its history, the institution was also referred to as the Pennsylvania Reform School, Youth Development Center of Canonsburg, and The House of Refuge.

[2] The exterior of Western Center's administration building was used as the setting for the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where Hannibal Lecter was incarcerated, in the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs and its 2002 prequel Red Dragon.

Initially located on the north shore of the Ohio River, the school relocated in 1872 to Morganza, an area northeast of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, in Washington County.

[5] In 1992, Western Center became the focus of a lawsuit filed by disability advocates against the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

[6] The closure, which occurred unexpectedly, was controversial, especially because some residents were relocated to distant facilities, including the state's Ebensburg Center.

[5] In 2011, David E. Stuart, a professor at the University of New Mexico and a former employee of Western State School and Hospital during the 1960s, published a book based on his experiences.