Winnebago Mental Health Institute | |
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Geography | |
Location | Winnebago, Wisconsin, United States [1] |
Coordinates | 44°04′30″N88°31′05″W / 44.075°N 88.518°W Coordinates: 44°04′30″N88°31′05″W / 44.075°N 88.518°W |
Organisation | |
Funding | Wisconsin Department of Health Services |
Type | Specialist |
Patron | None |
Services | |
Emergency department | No |
Speciality | Psychiatric hospital |
History | |
Opened | 1873 |
Links | |
Website | https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/winnebago/index.htm |
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. [2]
The Winnebago State Hospital was one of several 19th-century psychiatric hospitals in the United States built on the Kirkbride Plan, a style of mental asylum design advocated by Philadelphia psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride in the mid-19th century. The site of the hospital was the object of a competition between Green Bay and Oshkosh in 1870. The voters in the area approved an expenditure of $16,700 to begin construction. [3]
Construction first began for the institute in 1871. It opened in 1873 as the Northern State Hospital for the Insane, [4] with the first patient admitted on April 21, 1873. The original building (now gone) was completed on November 11, 1875, with a capacity of 500 beds. [3] Capacity was said to be 650, by 1891. [5] The name was later changed to Winnebago State Hospital c.1930s then to Winnebago Mental Health Institute c.1970s.
John Flammang Schrank, the attempted assassin of Theodore Roosevelt, was committed to the Northern Hospital for the Insane at Winnebago in November 1912. [6] He later died at Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Waupun, Wisconsin.
By 1932, the facility housed 864 patients with 164 staff members and an official capacity of 727. [7]
Scandal erupted after a patient died at Winnebago in January 1934. The death of Oscar Schrader kicked off a Legislative inquiry that eventually spread to several state mental health facilities from February to July 1934. It resulted in around 30 dismissals of staff and officials from Mendota, Winnebago and Waupun. [8] The asylum guard was acquitted by an Oshkosh jury on two manslaughter counts, [9] but he was discharged for his actions and the Legislative committee sought to compensate the widow for his death. [8]
Major construction occurred at the facility in the 1950s and 1960s and the original kirkbride plan structure was demolished incrementally during that time period. The main facility was centered just east of the intersection of Butler Avenue and Main street. [10]
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Source: Wisconsin Blue Book, 1891-2013 [12] |
By 1975, patient populations had dropped to 1/3 capacity at Winnebago MHI and a sister facility, Mendota Mental Health Institute, near Madison and politicians made efforts to close one of the Institutes. Governor Patrick Lucey (D) urged the Legislature to close Winnebago and Democrats in the State Assembly Finance committee supported that effort. [13] However, Republicans in the State Senate voted to close the Mendota facility instead. [14] Governor Lucey threatened to veto a budget that included funding for both facilities, but the Legislature ended up funding both anyway. [15] In November 1975, Governor Lucey dropped his efforts to close Winnebago MHI. [16] As of 2014, both facilities were still open. In 1977, the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Waupun, Wisconsin was converted from a prison hospital to Dodge Correctional Institution, a maximum security adult male correctional facility. Some of the patients, like Ed Gein, were transferred to Mendota.
In 2007, a newspaper reported that there had been three deaths and a rape at the hospital in a two-year period. [17] This triggered renovations to reduce the opportunities for patients to commit suicide, [18] though those renovations were later criticized as inadequate. [19]
In 2011, WMHI was accredited by the Joint Commission (formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals) and certified by the State of Wisconsin Division of Quality Assurance.
In 2012, the rated capacity of WMHI was 169 and the average daily population was 171. The capacity is "staffed capacity" and is based on funding and staffing rather than available number of beds. [12]
The State hospital had a cemetery located south east of the facility on Asylum point. A sign at the site indicates the cemetery operated from 1872 to 1973. Very few of the graves have markers, but some have simple stones flush with the ground with a number on them. [10] [20] [21]
The Kirkbride Plan was a system of mental asylum design advocated by Philadelphia 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. The structural features of the hospitals as designated by Dr. Kirkbride were contingent on his theories regarding the healing of the mentally ill, in which environment and exposure to natural light and air circulation were crucial. The hospitals built according to the Kirkbride Plan would adopt various architectural styles, but had in common the "bat wing" style floor plan, housing numerous wings that sprawl outward from the center.
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 currently 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.
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.
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.
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.
Thomas Story Kirkbride was a physician, advocate for the mentally ill, and founder of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (AMSAII), a precursor to the American Psychiatric Association.
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.
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. It was formally renamed "Medfield State Hospital" in 1914.
Taycheedah Correctional Institution is a prison in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin near the Town of Taycheedah. Established in 1921, it was known as Wisconsin Home for Women until 1975. The facility houses maximum-security and medium-security adult females, with an average population of 936 as of May 2019.
Dodge Correctional Institution(DCI) is an adult male maximum-security correctional facility operated by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections Division of Adult Institutions in Waupun, Wisconsin. The facility was converted from the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane to an adult correctional facility in 1977 at a cost of $2.47 million of general obligation bonds, as authorized by Chapter 29 of the Laws of 1977. The first two inmates were transferred from the nearby Waupun Correctional Institution to DCI on May 15, 1978. On October 29, 1993, ground was broken for a $45 million expansion which more than doubled the size of the facility. On June 17, 1996, the first female was admitted to DCI making it the only reception center for both male and female adult felons committed to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. DCI served as the reception center for both males and females until December 1, 2004, when the female reception center moved to the Taycheedah Correctional Institution. DCI also serves as the central medical center for the division, providing both in-patient and out-patient care for male and female inmates.
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.
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