Taunton State Hospital

Last updated
Taunton State Hospital
Taunton State Hospital Dome.jpg
1987 photo of the Administration Building
(since demolished)
Taunton State Hospital
Geography
Location Taunton, Massachusetts, United States
Organization
Type Specialist
Services
Speciality Psychiatric hospital
History
Former name(s)State Lunatic Hospital at Taunton
Opened1854
Closed1975
Links
Lists Hospitals in Massachusetts
NRHP
Taunton State Hospital
LocationTaunton, Massachusetts
Coordinates 41°54′42.79″N71°6′2.02″W / 41.9118861°N 71.1005611°W / 41.9118861; -71.1005611
Built1854
Architect Boyden & Ball
Architectural style Neo-classical
NRHP reference No. 93001484
Added to NRHPFebruary 21, 1994

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. [1]

Contents

The complex was expanded at various times to include over forty buildings and structures. The main part of the hospital (known as "the Kirkbride Building") closed in 1975, and the buildings fell into disrepair. In 1994, the property was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. [2] In 1999, the main dome of the administration building collapsed. In 2006, a large part of the historic complex was destroyed by fire. In 2009, the remaining parts were demolished. However, many of the newer buildings on the campus remain.

History

In 1851, the Massachusetts General Court appointed a commission to find a site for a new asylum to relieve the pressure of a rising patient population from its only facility in Worcester. The new facility at Taunton opened in April 1854. The large sprawling campus located on a hill offered fresh air and sunlight, following Kirkbride's concept for treating mental health patients. The complex was expanded in the early 1870s and again between 1887 and 1906. From the 1930s, juvenile facilities, crisis centers, sick wards, and group homes were added. [3]

One of the building's most beautiful features was its breezeways, which were added in the 1890s to connect the end of the wards to the hospital's infirmary buildings. Its distinct cupolas, large dome, cast-iron capitals, and window bar gave this building its own very unusual personality. [4]

In 1975, the main part of the hospital was closed and abandoned. In 1999, the large dome towering over the hospital's administration building collapsed. Then, on the night of March 19, 2006, a massive fire broke out in the center of the building, which included the administration and theater. Sections damaged by fire were then leveled, leaving only the decaying wings of the Kirkbride Building.

In May 2009, demolition of the remaining historic sections of the Kirkbride Building began. The facility had numerous architectural features that were salvaged and sold to individuals and companies throughout the United States, including architectural granite, bricks, timbers, iron gates, vintage plumbing and lighting fixtures, furniture, and slate roofing tiles. The project was completed in early 2010. [5]

Notable patients

Recent history

In the early 1990s, a $19 million capital improvement plan was implemented by the state to improve the still-operating portions of the campus. In early 2012, the state announced the closure of the remaining parts of the facility containing 169 beds. [6] A plan to keep a portion of the facility open was vetoed by Governor Deval Patrick in July 2012. [7]

Taunton State Hospital remains open and houses 48 psychiatric beds, the Women's Recovery from Addiction Program, a residential program under the Department of Youth Services, and a substance abuse program administered by High Point Treatment Center. There is also a greenhouse on the campus that is staffed by patients and sells a variety of plants and seasonal produce to the public.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Elizabeths Hospital</span> Hospital in D.C., U.S.

St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. The hospital opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan State Hospital (Massachusetts)</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Metropolitan State Hospital was an American public hospital for the mentally ill, on grounds that extended across parts of Waltham, Lexington, and Belmont, Massachusetts. Founded in 1927, it was at one time the largest and most modern facility of its type in Massachusetts. It was closed in January 1992 as a result of the state's cost-cutting policy of closing its mental hospitals and moving patients into private and community-based settings. The main complex of buildings has subsequently been redeveloped into apartments. The hospital campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1994. The property also housed the Gaebler Children's Center for mentally ill youth.

<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> United States historic place

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 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 Thomas Story Kirkbride. Over the years, as mental health treatment changed and resources were diverted, the buildings and grounds began a slow deterioration. 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 was a psychiatric and medical care facility, located in Santa Clara, California.

<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">Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum</span> United States historic place

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, subsequently the Weston State Hospital, was a Kirkbride psychiatric hospital that was operated from 1864 until 1994 by the government of the U.S. state of West Virginia, in the city of Weston. Weston State Hospital got its name in 1913 which was used while patients occupied it, but was changed back to its originally commissioned, unused name, the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, after being reopened as a tourist attraction.

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">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">Medfield State Hospital</span> United States historic place

Medfield State Hospital, originally the Medfield Insane Asylum, is a historic former psychiatric hospital complex at 45 Hospital Road in Medfield, Massachusetts, United States. The asylum was established in 1892 as the state's first facility for dealing with chronic mental patients. The college-like campus was designed by William Pitt Wentworth and developed between 1896 and 1914. After an era dominated by asylums built using the Kirkbride Plan, Medfield Insane Asylum was the first asylum built using the new Cottage Plan layout, where instead of holding patients in cells, they would be integrated into a small community and work a specific job. It was formally renamed "Medfield State Hospital" in 1914.

<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.

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">Augusta Mental Health Institute</span> United States historic place

The Maine Insane Hospital, later the Augusta Mental Health Institute (AMHI), was a psychiatric hospital in Augusta, Maine. It was the principal facility for the care and treatment of Maine's mentally ill from 1840 to 2004, and its surviving buildings represent the oldest surviving complex of mental care facilities in the United States. The complex is located on the east bank of the Kennebec River, immediately south of the former Kennebec Arsenal, and now primarily houses state offices. In 2004, the hospital was replaced by the Riverview Psychiatric Center, located just to the south. The hospital's core complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, with the listing enlarged to encompass the entire campus in 2001.

References

  1. Taunton Daily Gazette, January 29, 2012
  2. MASSACHUSETTS - Bristol County - Historic Districts
  3. Taunton Daily Gazette, January 29, 2012
  4. Kirkbride Buildings
  5. Costello Dismantling Company
  6. Taunton Daily Gazette, January 29, 2012
  7. Gov. Deval Patrick signs $32.5 billion budget, moves to close Taunton State Hospital

Further reading