Clarinda Treatment Complex

Last updated

Clarinda Treatment Complex
Clarinda Treatment Complex
Geography
Location Clarinda, Iowa, United States
Coordinates 40°45′28″N95°02′15″W / 40.757897°N 95.037625°W / 40.757897; -95.037625
Organization
Type Specialist
Services
Speciality Psychiatric hospital
History
Opened1884
ClosedJune 30, 2015
Links
Lists Hospitals in Iowa

The Clarinda Treatment Complex was built in 1884 as the Clarinda State Hospital in Clarinda, Iowa in southwest Iowa. It was the third asylum in the state of Iowa. The hospital's many name variations include: The Clarinda Lunatic Asylum, The Clarinda State Asylum, The Clarinda Asylum for the Insane, and The Clarinda Mental Health Institute. It was built under the Kirkbride Plan. The original plan for patients was to hold alcoholics, geriatrics, drug addicts, mentally ill, and the criminally insane. In 2009, it was made public that, to save money, the state may close one of the four hospitals in Iowa. On June 30, 2015, the hospital facility was shut down and all patient services terminated. [1] The Clarinda Academy, owned by Sequel Youth Services, is the sole occupant of the former hospital grounds. [2]

Contents

Description

The Kirkbride is made of red brick with white trim in some areas. The administration section has a large clocktower and is kept in good condition to provide people with an idea of what the mental institution looked like when it was completed in 1886. Although the hospital looks like it did in 1886, the hospital has had many things replaced such as windows. Amenities have also been added such as electricity, running water, and other buildings including infirmaries and a minimum security prison that was established in 1980. Although things have been replaced and added, however, much of the original woodwork and tile floors in the hospital have been kept.

History

Prior to the construction of Clarinda, Iowa had two mental hospitals, in Independence and Mt. Pleasant, but these were overcrowded. Recognizing the need for a third, a state commission selected the city of Clarinda to serve as its home in 1884. William Foster and Henry F. Liebbe of Des Moines were retained as architects for the new facility. Construction began July 4, 1885, and the first patients of the then all-male institution took occupancy in 1888. [3]

The patients at the hospital were thought to be no longer human, and therefore, many were abused, and some even died. The reasons for patient deaths were gruesome lobotomies, improper food and water, starvation and dehydration, abuse, surgeries, extreme climate, and various other forms of treatment.

The former hospital grounds are now home to the Clarinda Academy, a juvenile detention facility serving southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychiatric hospital</span> Hospital specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders

A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe mental disorders. These institutions cater to patients with conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and eating disorders, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarinda, Iowa</span> City in Iowa, United States

Clarinda is a city in and the county seat of Page County, Iowa, United States. It is located in Nodaway Township. The population was 5,369 at the time of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirkbride Plan</span> Mental asylum design created by Thomas Kirkbride

The Kirkbride Plan was a system of mental asylum design advocated by American psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride (1809–1883) in the mid-19th century. The asylums built in the Kirkbride design, often referred to as Kirkbride Buildings, were constructed during the mid-to-late-19th century in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danvers State Hospital</span> Former psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts, USA

The Danvers State Hospital, also known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers, The Danvers Lunatic Asylum, and The Danvers State Insane Asylum, was a psychiatric hospital located in Danvers, Massachusetts. It was built in 1874 and opened in 1878, under the supervision of prominent Boston architect Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee, on an isolated site in rural Massachusetts. It was a multi-acre, self-contained psychiatric hospital designed and built according to the Kirkbride Plan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryce Hospital</span> Hospital in Alabama, United States

Bryce Hospital opened in 1861 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. It is Alabama's oldest and largest inpatient psychiatric facility. First known as the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane and later as the Alabama Insane Hospital, the building is considered an architectural model. The hospital houses 268 beds for acute care, treatment and rehabilitation of full-time (committed) patients. The Mary Starke Harper Geriatric Psychiatry Hospital, a separate facility on the same campus, provides an additional 100 beds for inpatient geriatric care. The main facility was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athens Lunatic Asylum</span> United States historic place

The Athens Lunatic Asylum, now a mixed-use development known as The Ridges, was a Kirkbride Plan mental hospital operated in Athens, Ohio, from 1874 until 1993. During its operation, the hospital provided services to a variety of patients including Civil War veterans, children, and those declared mentally unwell. After a period of disuse the property was redeveloped by the state of Ohio. Today, The Ridges are a part of Ohio University and house the Kennedy Museum of Art as well as an auditorium and many offices, classrooms, and storage facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richardson Olmsted Complex</span> Building in Buffalo, New York

The Richardson Olmsted Campus in Buffalo, New York, United States, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. The site was designed by the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson in concert with the famed landscape team of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the late 1800s, incorporating a system of treatment for people with mental illness developed by Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride known as the Kirkbride Plan. Over the years, as mental health treatment changed and resources were diverted, the buildings and grounds began a slow deterioration. By 1974, the last patients were removed from the historic wards. On June 24, 1986, the former Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane was added to the National Historic Landmark registry. In 2006, the Richardson Center Corporation was formed to restore the buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital</span> Hospital in Morris Plains, New Jersey

Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital referred to both the former psychiatric hospital and the historic building that it occupied in Morris Plains, New Jersey. Built in 1876, the facility was built to alleviate overcrowding at the state's only other "lunatic asylum" located in Trenton, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon State Hospital</span> United States historic place

Oregon State Hospital is a public psychiatric hospital in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the state's capital city of Salem with a smaller satellite campus in Junction City opened in 2014. Founded in 1862 and constructed in the Kirkbride Plan design in 1883, it is the oldest operating psychiatric hospital in the state of Oregon, and one of the oldest continuously operated hospitals on the West Coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital</span> United States historic place

The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, also known as Kirkbride's Hospital or the Pennsylvania Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases, was a psychiatric hospital located at 48th and Haverford Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It operated from its founding in 1841 until 1997. The remaining building, now called the Kirkbride Center is now part of the Blackwell Human Services Campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central State Hospital (Indiana)</span> Former psychiatric hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.

Central State Hospital, formerly referred to as the Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane, was a psychiatric treatment hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. The hospital was established in 1848 to treat patients from anywhere in the state, but by 1905, with the establishment of psychiatric hospitals in other parts of Indiana, Central State served only the counties in the middle of the state. In 1950, it had 2,500 patients. Allegations of abuse, funding shortfalls, and the move to less institutional methods of treatment led to its closure in 1994. Since then efforts have been made to redevelop the site for various uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum</span> United States historic place

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was a psychiatric hospital located in Weston, West Virginia and known by other names such as West Virginia Hospital for the Insane and Weston State Hospital. The asylum was open to patients from October 1864 until May 1994. After its closure, patients were transitioned to the new William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital in Weston, named after William R. Sharpe Jr., a member of the West Virginia Senate. The hospital reopened as a tourist location in March 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mendota Mental Health Institute</span> Hospital in Wisconsin, United States

Mendota Mental Health Institute (MMHI) is a public psychiatric hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, operated by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission. Portions of the facility are included in the Wisconsin Memorial Hospital Historic District, District #88002183. The Mendota State Hospital Mound Group and Farwell's Point Mound Group are also located at the facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broughton Hospital</span> Historic district in North Carolina, United States

Broughton Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in Morganton, North Carolina. It is administered by North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elgin Mental Health Center</span> Psychiatric hospital in northern Illinois, United States

The Elgin Mental Health Center is a mental health facility operated by the State of Illinois in Elgin, Illinois. Throughout its history, Elgin's mission has changed. At times, it treated mental illness, tuberculosis, and provided federally funded care for veterans. The hospital's site, which included a patient-staffed farm reached a maximum of 1,139 acres (461 ha) after World War II. Its maximum population was reached in the mid 1950s with 7,700 patients. Between 1993 and 2008, most of the older buildings in the complex were demolished due to being in poor condition as the result of being abandoned for decades. The site is/was popular among teens and in the paranormal world due to its claims of hauntings in the older buildings and the hospital's cemetery.

The Jacksonville Developmental Center was an institution for developmentally delayed clients, located in Jacksonville, Illinois. It was open from 1851 to November 2012. As of December 2012, the 134-acre (54 ha) grounds was still owned by the State of Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worcester State Hospital</span> Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

Worcester State Hospital was a Massachusetts state mental hospital located in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is credited to the architectural firm of Weston & Rand. The hospital and surrounding associated historic structures are listed as Worcester Asylum and related buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winnebago Mental Health Institute</span> Hospital in Wisconsin, United States

Winnebago Mental Health Institute (WMHI), formerly the Winnebago State Hospital, is a psychiatric hospital near Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States located in the unincorporated community of Winnebago, Wisconsin.

The Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute was a psychiatric institution located in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, USA. Originally known as the Iowa Lunatic Asylum, it opened in 1861. It is located on the same campus as The Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility. There was also a labyrinth of tunnels which connected every building. It was the first asylum in Iowa and was built under the Kirkbride Plan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independence State Hospital</span> Hospital in Iowa, United States

The Independence State Hospital was built in 1873 as the second asylum in the state of Iowa. It is located in Independence, Iowa. The original plan for patients was to relieve crowding from the hospital at Mount Pleasant and to hold alcoholics, geriatrics, drug addicts, mentally ill, and the criminally insane. It was built under the Kirkbride Plan. The hospital's many names have included: The Independence Lunatic Asylum, The Independence State Asylum, The Independence Asylum for the Insane, The Iowa State Hospital for the Insane, and The Independence Mental Health Institute. There is also a labyrinth of tunnels which connect every building. Like most asylums of its time, it has had a gruesome and dark history. Remnants of this are the graveyard, hydrotherapy tubs, and lobotomy equipment.

References

  1. "Last Day at Clarinda Mental Health Institute". June 30, 2015.
  2. "Clarinda Academy". Archived from the original on August 1, 2015.
  3. "Clarinda State Hospital - Kirkbride Buildings". www.kirkbridebuildings.com.