Elan was started in 1970 in Maine by Joe Ricci, Dr. Gerald Davidson and some third partner who was quickly kicked out of the partnership for being a crook (not that Joe wasn't). Elan has always been in Maine, but the main complex has been in Poland Spring since 73 or 74.
Elan was an offshoot of Daytop. But all of those programs are an indirect offshoot of Synanon.
And what happened to the founder of Synanon, dare you ask? He got life for putting a rattlesnake in some politician's mailbox. The guy got bit but survived.