Clinton Valley Center

Last updated

Eastern Michigan Asylum Historic District
Pontiac Asylum c 1912.jpg
Pontiac State Hospital, c. 1912
USA Michigan location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location140 Elizabeth Lake Rd., Pontiac, Michigan
Coordinates 42°38′43.7″N83°19′20.6″W / 42.645472°N 83.322389°W / 42.645472; -83.322389
Area412 acres (167 ha)
Built1878 (1878)
Architect Elijah E. Myers (main building)
Smith, Hinchman & Grylls (chapel)
Architectural styleLate Victorian, Italianate, Italian Renaissance
NRHP reference No. 81000315 [1]
86001367  (decrease)
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMarch 20, 1981
Boundary decrease1986
Designated MSHSSeptember 17, 1974 [2]

The Clinton Valley Center (CVC), originally called the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane, was a psychiatric hospital located at 140 Elizabeth Lake Road in Pontiac, Michigan. The facility was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974 [2] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, with a decrease in its boundaries in 1986. [1] The facility was closed in 1997 and demolished in 2000. [3]

Contents

History

In 1873, to alleviate the overcrowding at the Kalamazoo psychiatric hospital, the Michigan state legislature appropriated $400,000 for the construction of a second hospital in eastern Michigan. [4] Cities in the area were requested to bid for the project, and Pontiac won out over Detroit and other cities. The architect for the original main hospital was Elijah E. Myers, who also served as the architect for the current Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. [3] The asylum opened its doors five years later, on August 1, 1878, [3] and began treating 222 patients. [3] The original superintendent, Henry Mills Hurd, introduced multiple innovations in psychiatric care, including discouraging restraints, occupational therapy, and recreational activities. [4]

Both the campus size and number of patients slowly grew, as the hospital was repeatedly enlarged between 1882 and 1895 (also designed by Myers), with more additions in 1906, 1914, and 1938. [2] In 1911, the hospital changed its name to Pontiac State Hospital. During the 1950s, the hospital experienced its peak of approximately 3,100 residing patients. [3] The facility was renamed the Clinton Valley Center in 1973, [3] and by the later 1970s the number of patients had declined to around 800. [2]

Due to a decreasing number of patients, the facility was closed in 1997 by the State of Michigan with only 200 patients. [4] The facility was demolished in 2000. A subdivision now occupies the site.


Description

Eastern Michigan Asylum, c. 1876 EasternMichiganAsylum.jpg
Eastern Michigan Asylum, c. 1876

The campus of the Clinton Valley Center contained 44 structures, many of which were extensions of the original 1878 hospital. [2]

The 1878 structure was a 3+12-story red-brick structure with a center building for offices and staff, and two wings for male and female patients. [2] The building had a steeply pitched slate roof with multiple towers, and wood and metal cornices. The building resembled a typical Kirkbride model. [3] The 1882 additions were designed by Charles Anderson to match the original construction. [2] The 1906 and 1914 additions were brick hipped-roof structures, and the 1938 construction added a Tudor designed building onto the front of the structure. [2]

Apart from the main hospital, other structures on the campus included the Vinton Building (1893), the Sawyer Building (1917), the Italian Renaissance chapel (1907) designed by the Detroit firm of Smith, Hinchman and Grylls. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kings Park Psychiatric Center</span> Former psychiatric hospital in New York, United States

The Kings Park Psychiatric Center, known by Kings Park locals as "The Psych Center", is a former state-run psychiatric hospital located in Kings Park, New York. It operated from 1885 until 1996, when the State of New York closed the facility, releasing its few remaining patients or transferring them to the still-operational Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.

<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">Taunton State Hospital</span> Hospital in Massachusetts, United States

Taunton State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located on Hodges Avenue in Taunton, Massachusetts. Established in 1854, it was originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Taunton. It was the second state asylum in Massachusetts. Most of the original part of the facility was built in a unique and rare neo-classical style designed by architects Boyden & Ball. It is also a Kirkbride Plan hospital and is located on a large 154-acre (62 ha) farm along the Mill River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utica Psychiatric Center</span> Mental health facility

The Utica Psychiatric Center, also known as Utica State Hospital, opened in Utica on January 16, 1843. It was New York's first state-run facility designed to care for the mentally ill, and one of the first such institutions in the United States. It was originally called the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica. The Greek Revival structure was designed by Captain William Clarke and its construction was funded by the state and by contributions from Utica residents.

<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">Agnews Developmental Center</span> United States historic place

Agnews Developmental Center were two psychiatric and medical care facilities, located in Santa Clara, California and San Jose, California respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elijah E. Myers</span> American architect

Elijah E. Myers was a leading architect of government buildings in the latter half of the 19th century, and the only architect to design the capitol buildings of three U.S. states, the Michigan State Capitol, the Texas State Capitol, and the Colorado State Capitol. He also designed buildings in Mexico and Brazil. Myers favored Victorian Gothic and Neo-Classical styles, but he worked in other styles as well.

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

The Traverse City State Hospital, also known at various points as the Northern Michigan Asylum and the Traverse City Regional Psychiatric Hospital, is a decommissioned psychiatric hospital in Traverse City, Michigan. Established in 1881 by James Decker Munson and Perry Hannah, the hospital was in operation from 1885 to 1989. The site has since been redeveloped, reopening in 2002 as The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, a social center including shops, restaurants, office space, and residences.

<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">Connecticut Valley Hospital</span> Hospital in Connecticut, United States

Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, Connecticut, is a public hospital operated by the state of Connecticut to treat people with mental illness. It was historically known as Connecticut General Hospital for the Insane. It is a 100-acre (40 ha) historic district that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Michigan State Asylum may refer to any number of early mental institutions in the state. Michigan became a state in 1837 and five years later it was accepted that caring for the mentally afflicted was a state problem. In 1848 a joint resolution required an annual return from the adviser of the number of insane, deaf, dumb, and blind people in the state. In that same year the legislature set aside 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of land for buildings, next year nearly double that amount, and in 1850, 16,000 acres (6,500 ha). Not until 1853 was money, $20,000, appropriated out of the general fund of the state treasury. Many hospitals/prisons have been referred to as "Michigan State Asylum". There were once 16 State-operated psychiatric facilities in Michigan. Between 1987 and 2003 Michigan closed three quarters of its 16 state psychiatric facilities. Here is a partial list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York State Inebriate Asylum</span> United States historic place

The New York State Inebriate Asylum, later known as Binghamton State Hospital, was the first institution designed and constructed to treat alcoholism as a mental disorder in the United States. Located in Binghamton, NY, its imposing Gothic Revival exterior was designed by New York architect Isaac G. Perry and construction was completed in 1864. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997. In 2015, Binghamton University announced it had taken stewardship of the building and will proceed with plans for rehabilitation of the building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital</span> Hospital in Michigan, United States

The Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital (KRPH) is the largest mental health institution in Michigan. It was built under the Kirkbride Plan.

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

The Hudson River State Hospital is a former New York state psychiatric hospital which operated from 1873 until its closure in the early 2000s. The campus is notable for its main building, known as a "Kirkbride," which has been designated a National Historic Landmark due to its exemplary High Victorian Gothic architecture, the first use of that style for an American institutional building. It is located on US 9 on the Poughkeepsie-Hyde Park town line.

<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">Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center</span> United States historic place

The Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center is a psychiatric hospital operated by the state of Maine. It is located at 656 State Street in Bangor, and was previously known as the Eastern Maine Insane Asylum and the Bangor Mental Health Institute. It was established in 1895, and the main building on its campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Campus</span> Historic district in Austin, Texas

The Little Campus is a historic district and part of the University of Texas at Austin campus in Austin, Texas. Originally built in 1856 as the Texas Asylum for the Blind, the complex was used for a variety of purposes through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was acquired by the University of Texas after World War I and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Peter State Hospital Museum</span> United States historic place

The St. Peter State Hospital Museum, located in St. Peter, Minnesota, offers a glimpse into the history of Minnesota's first and oldest public psychiatric hospital. Established in 1866, the St. Peter State Hospital played a significant role in the evolving field of mental health care. The museum, housed within the original 1867 hospital administration building, itself on the campus of what is now St. Peter Regional Treatment Center, was created to shed light on the institution's long history and dispel misconceptions surrounding mental illness. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Paul Eastern Michigan Asylum Historic District". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Archived from the original on September 1, 2013. Retrieved September 1, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bruce J. Annett, Jr. (2002), Asylum: Pontiac's Grand Monument from the Gilded Age, Oakland County Pioneer & Historical Society, ISBN   0-9719141-0-9
  4. 1 2 3 Ronald K. Gay (2010), Pontiac, Arcadia Publishing, pp. 53–63, ISBN   9780738578149