Medical

In the fall of 1885, the City of New York transferred 55 men and women living at the Kings County Asylum to the new St. Johnland farm colony “to promote rational outdoor living, exercise, and occupation.” In 1887, just a few miles away at Central Islip, another City of New York farm colony was established for the chronically mentally ill. Founded on the principles of moral therapy, the farm colonies provided treatment, recreation, religious services, and hope towards integration back into society for patients. In 1931, Pilgrim State was constructed as a final solution to address the growing needs of Long Island’s state hospital system. By 1955, more than 32,000 individuals were receiving board and care at the three facilities. This publication illustrates the legacy of humility, beneficence, and devotion to the mentally ill for over 111 years of the Long Island State Hospitals’ joint operations through photographs appearing courtesy of a private collection.

The Worcester State Hospital offered a novel and compelling promise: that insanity could be cured by humane treatment in a therapeutic setting. Patients would enjoy its idyllic landscape, genteel interiors, wholesome food supplied from its farm, and the individualized attention of medical professionals. The hospital's reputation as a "model institution" helped to position the city of Worcester as an economic center and pioneer in social reform. Yet overcrowding, insufficient funds, and the limitations of medical knowledge undermined the institution's mission, leading to the abandonment of its original features. Despite downsizing and decay, the Worcester State Hospital continues to exert a tangible presence on the landscape. Its iconic clock tower, salvaged from demolition, stands as a reminder of its historical legacy and of the continuing role of the site--now the Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital--in the treatment of mental illness.

On the banks of Lake Chauncy sit the remains of the Westborough Insane Hospital, later known as Westborough State Hospital.

Westborough is perhaps best known as the second homeopathic hospital for the insane in the United States and the first example of institutional reuse in the nation.The hospital's unique treatment methods put it squarely at the forefront of mental health treatment, and it was one of the last state hospitals in Massachusetts to close its doors.The pioneering African American pathologist Solomon Carter Fuller spent much of his career at Westborough studying the physical changes made to the brain by Alzheimer's.When it closed in 2010, it was the only state hospital in New England with a dedicated unit for deaf and hard of hearing patients.Though somewhat less infamous than some of its neighbors, Westborough holds a very distinctive place in the history of mental health treatment.

Katherine Anderson is a veteran special education teacher and has been researching and writing about asylums and mental health care for more than a decade. With the help of researcher and historian Jon Maynard, this book continues the legacy of Westborough State Hospital and the many men and women who lived and worked there.

The Toledo State Hospital opened in 1888, and its design and healing approach were revolutionary for the time. First in the country built entirely on the "cottage model," its plan was intended to create a homelike atmosphere in a beautifully manicured landscape. Treatment methods were based on the "moral treatment" philosophy, the belief that calming surroundings with nutritious food, productive work, and diversion would help the disturbed mind to heal. Over the years, facilities were expanded to serve a burgeoning patient population, and medications and treatments evolved. In the 1950s, however, the population began a steady decline due to the advent of services in the community and to advances in psychotropic drugs. As the old buildings were emptied, they were demolished, and all were gone by 1981.

Nearly two decades after it closed, the South Carolina State Hospital continues to hold a palpable mystique in Columbia and throughout the state.

Founded in 1821 as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, it housed, fed and treated thousands of patients incapable of surviving on their own. The patient population in 1961 eclipsed 6,600, well above its listed capacity of 4,823, despite an operating budget that ranked forty-fifth out of the forty-eight states. By the mid-1990s, the patient population had fallen under 700, and the hospital had become a symbol of captivity, horror and chaos. Author William Buchheit details this history through the words and interviews of those who worked on the iconic campus.