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Featured Article Of The Week
Cherry Hospital
In 1877, the North Carolina General Assembly appointed a committee to recommend the selection of a site for a facility for the black mentally ill which would serve the entire state. On April 11, 1878, one hundred seventy-one acres of land two miles west of Goldsboro were purchased. The site was described by Governor Z. B. Vance as ideal for a hospital building because of good elevation in a high state of cultivation and central location for the black population.
On August 1, 1880, the first patient was admitted to the then named "Asylum for Colored Insane". Since that time, there have been several name changes including: The Eastern North Carolina Insane Asylum, Eastern Hospital, and State Hospital at Goldsboro. The name was changed to Cherry Hospital in 1959 in honor of Governor Gregg Cherry.
The bed capacity for the hospital when established was seventy-six but over one hundred patients were crowded into the facility by Christmas of 1880. These patients were being cared for through a $16,000 appropriation. On March 5, 1881, the Easthern North Carolina Insane Asylum was incorporated and a board of nine directors appointed. The Board of Directors sought more appropriations for treatment of the black mentally ill. A separate building was established for treating tubercular patients. In addition, a building for the criminally insane was opened in 1924. Click here for more...
