Difference between revisions of "Portal:Featured Article Of The Week"

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|Title= Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital
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|Title= Norristown State Hospital
|Image= IPH MaleBldg 01.jpg
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|Image= Norristown 17.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= By 1832 the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital recognized the necessity of opening a separate asylum with the sole purpose of caring for psychiatric patients. The Pennsylvania Hospital purchased a 101-acre farm in West Philadelphia in 1835 from Matthew Arrison, on which the cornerstone for a new facility was laid on July 26, 1836. The new hospital would be known as The Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital. It was a psychiatric hospital located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 49th and Market St., which operated from 1841 till it closed in 1997. Thomas Story Kirkbride, its first superintendent, developed a more humane method of treatment for the mentally ill that became widely influential. Today, the former Institute campus exists as a multi-purpose social-service facility. The new hospital, located on a 101-acre (0.41 km²) tract of the as yet unincorporated district of West Philadelphia, offered comforts and a “humane treatment” philosophy that set a standard for its day. Unlike other asylums where patients were often kept chained in crowded, unsanitary wards with little if any treatment, patients at Pennsylvania Hospital resided in private rooms, received medical treatment, worked outdoors and enjoyed recreational activities including lectures and a use of the hospital library. The hospital featured two "Kirkbride Plan" buildings, which were separated by a creek and pleasure grounds.
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|Body= In 1876 Governor John Hartranft formed a commission to study the need for a state-owned hospital in southeastern Pennsylvania. A 200-acre tract in the northern part of Norristown borough was chosen for the hospital and work began on March, 21, 1878. Upon completion on February 17, 1880 there were only two other state-owned hospitals, one in Danville that opened in 1872 and one in Harrisburg that opened in 1851. Plans were underway to construct another at Warren. Norristown was built to alleviate the overcrowding in the psychiatric wards of the Philadelphia Almshouse and other hospitals in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 1880, the hospital was turned over to the Board of Trustees for operation. It operated under the "cottage plan," using small cottage structures to house patients instead of one large facility. During this perriod, the hospital was opened to both sexes and continued to be divided into men's and women's departments until 1923. Serving nearly 3,000 patients, in 1924 the hospital was reorganized under one superintendent. As with most hospitals at the time, there was a farm with animals on the grounds and the patients helped to operate the facility until the 1950s. As of 1998, the hospital still functions as a mental hospital.
  
The first building was a long thin building located west of the Schuylkill River. This building would eventually become the female department. Though the building does reflect the Kirkbride Plan it was actually constructed before Dr. Kirkbride was given full supervisory duties. Construction began under the control of architect Isaac Holden but later illness forced Issac to return to his home country of England. The building was then finished by a young Samuel Sloan, who worked as a carpenter on the Eastern State Penitentiary. [[Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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From the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare web page: The second half of the nineteenth century was witnessing the opening of state hospitals for the care and treatment of persons who had mental illnesses. Prior to this care and treatment had been provided in County Almshouses, which were very, very overcrowded. In May 1876, under Public Law 121, the Pennsylvania Legislature called for the establishment of a state mental hospital to serve the Southeastern District of Pennsylvania.
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Norristown State Hospital received its first patient, a woman, on July 12, 1880. Two more women arrived on July 13th followed by the first two men on July 17th. Very soon thereafter groups of individuals were admitted from other state hospitals and county almshouses. By September 30, 1880, there were 295 men and 251 women receiving in-patient care and treatment. [[Norristown State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:52, 23 January 2012

Featured Article Of The Week

Norristown State Hospital


Norristown 17.jpg

In 1876 Governor John Hartranft formed a commission to study the need for a state-owned hospital in southeastern Pennsylvania. A 200-acre tract in the northern part of Norristown borough was chosen for the hospital and work began on March, 21, 1878. Upon completion on February 17, 1880 there were only two other state-owned hospitals, one in Danville that opened in 1872 and one in Harrisburg that opened in 1851. Plans were underway to construct another at Warren. Norristown was built to alleviate the overcrowding in the psychiatric wards of the Philadelphia Almshouse and other hospitals in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 1880, the hospital was turned over to the Board of Trustees for operation. It operated under the "cottage plan," using small cottage structures to house patients instead of one large facility. During this perriod, the hospital was opened to both sexes and continued to be divided into men's and women's departments until 1923. Serving nearly 3,000 patients, in 1924 the hospital was reorganized under one superintendent. As with most hospitals at the time, there was a farm with animals on the grounds and the patients helped to operate the facility until the 1950s. As of 1998, the hospital still functions as a mental hospital.


From the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare web page: The second half of the nineteenth century was witnessing the opening of state hospitals for the care and treatment of persons who had mental illnesses. Prior to this care and treatment had been provided in County Almshouses, which were very, very overcrowded. In May 1876, under Public Law 121, the Pennsylvania Legislature called for the establishment of a state mental hospital to serve the Southeastern District of Pennsylvania.

Norristown State Hospital received its first patient, a woman, on July 12, 1880. Two more women arrived on July 13th followed by the first two men on July 17th. Very soon thereafter groups of individuals were admitted from other state hospitals and county almshouses. By September 30, 1880, there were 295 men and 251 women receiving in-patient care and treatment. Click here for more...