Chicago State Hospital

Chicago State Hospital
Opened	1869
Closed	1971
Demolished	1980s
Current Status	Demolished
Building Style	Kirkbride Plan
Location	Chicago, IL
Peak Patient Population	2,100 in 1955
Alternate Names	Cook County Institution at Dunning Dunning Asylum Dunning Mental Institute Cook County Institution at Dunning Read Mental Health Facility Charles F. Read Zone Center Chicago Read Mental Health Center

History

In 1851 the county poor farm was established at the town of Jefferson, Ill., about 12 miles northwest of Chicago. The farm consisted of 160 acres of fairly improved land, and was formerly owned by peter Ludby, who located it in 1839. Additional land was purchased in 1860 and in 1884. At the present time (1915) the land consists of 234 acres.

By November, 1854, the county poorhouse was nearly finished. The building was of brick, three stories high and basement, and cost about $25,000.

In 1858 Dr. D. B. Fonda was physician for the poorhouse and insane departments. At the time the building of the insane asylum, 200 feet south of the almshouse hospital, was contemplated.

In the first biennial report of the Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities of the State of Illinois, dated December, 1870, occurs the following:

Although the keeper of the Cook County almshouse seems to be a humane, conscientious man, who conducts the institution to the very best of his ability under the circumstances and surroundings, it is nevertheless for so wealthy a county a miserably planned and badly managed institution.

The capacity is probably not over 450, while the number of inmates is sometimes as great as 700.

Of the manner in which the insane have hitherto been cared for nothing need be said. A new insane asylum in connection with the almshouse has been built.

The farm of 160 acres is worked in the interest of the county, the superintendent receiving a salary for his services. The inmates do nearly all the farm work, also the housework and make most of the clothing. There is a school upon the premises, which is attended by the greater part of the children between the ages of eight and 14.

The old insane department was of brick, with small barred windows, iron doors, and heavy wooden doors outside, with apertures and hinged shutters for passing food. The cells were about seven by eight feet; they were not heated, except by a stove in the corridor, which did not raise the temperature in some of them above freezing point; the cold, however, did not freeze out the vermin with which the beds, walls and floors were alive. The number of cells in this department was 21, 10 on the lower floor and 11 on the upper floor; many of them contained two beds,

The other buildings were all frame; they were more like barns or barracks-immense areas of bare floors, crowded with cheap iron strap bedsteads.

The heating was insufficient; there was no ventilation; the arrangements for bathing were so imperfect, there being no hot water, that during the winter months the inmates were not bathed; even in summer the number of tubs was too small and they were inconviently located.

There were no halls in these buildings, the entire space being divided into rooms; the stairways were either on the outside or in the center of the room.

In the report for 1878 it is stated that the Cook County poorhouse :is a rookery and should be torn down."

The plans for additional buildings for the infirmary were drawn by John G. Cochrane, the architect, and the designs submitted by him were adopted by the county on the 22d of September, 1881.

The contract for the erection of the buildings was awarded in June, 1882, to Messers. McGraw & Downey, who completed their part of the work in time for the institution to receive inmates by June the following year.

They consisted of nine separate and distinct buildings, connected by corridors arranged in a semi-circular form, with a frontage generally to the south. In front of the circle were the administration and the four dormitory buildings; immediately in the rear was the central building, and on either side of this the hospitals and dining rooms; in the rear of these were the kitchens and laundry houses, all connected by corridors. The construction was of brick and three stories in height.

In 1884 the infirmary had accommodations for 1000 patients. The patients were transferred to the county infirmary at Oak Forest, Ill., in December, 1910, and the buildings of the infirmary were used to house the insane.

In January, 1912, fire destroyed the central portion of the building, which contained six wards, operating room, two congregate dining-rooms, kitchen, chapel and the corridors leading from the was to the west wings. However, the fire did not destroy the two west wings, which were nor in use, nor the three east wings, which were occupied by the insane patients. The two west wings were wrecked during the early part of 1913 in order to provide sites for cottage wards 13 and 14.

The east wings continued in use as wards for insane patients until January 9, 1914, when a fire started in the ruins at the western end of the buildings; shortly after this fire the buildings were abandoned and the contract was let to have them wrecked. The buildings were leveled during the year 1914.

The boiler room and pump house connected with the infirmary remains in use at the present time (1915).

The ice-house, which was built at the same time as the infirmary buildings in 1883, is in use at the present time (1915) as a paint shop.

On July 1, 1912 Cook County transferred the land, buildings, and equipment of the Cook County Institution at Dunning to the Board of Administration (Board of Administration, Second and Third Annual Reports Springfield, 1913 p. 931). This institution, opened in 1869, had formerly housed the indigent, tubercular, and insane of Cook County. After the Board of Administration assumed control in 1912 the institution was used solely for the treatment and care of the insane and was renamed Chicago State Hospital.

The hospital opened a training school for nurses in 1912 and established the first state psychiatric nursing affiliation program in 1918. The Psychiatric Nursing Affiliation Program provided instruction in psychiatric nursing to students from general hospital nursing schools throughout the country.

The Civil Administrative Code of 1917 transferred control of Chicago State Hospital to the Department of Public Welfare where it remained until the creation of the Department of Mental Health in 1961. In 1970 Chicago State Hospital merged with the Charles F. Read Zone Center to become the Chicago-Read Mental Health Center.

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