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

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{{FAformat
|Title= Wernersville State Hospital
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|Title= Gowanda State Hospital
|Image= WernerSH Vint 06.jpg
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|Image= Gowanda01.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
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|Body= From the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare web page: The Pennsylvania General Assembly authorized the creation of the State Asylum for the Chronic Insane on June 22, 1891. The facility was to be a public mental hospital for persons needing extended care. Courts were not permitted to make direct admissions to Wernersville; only patients who had at least one year of care at another state mental hospital were eligible for admission. This special role for Wernersville continued until 1923.
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|Body= Gowanda State Hospital was built by the architectural firm of Esenwein and Johnson who had an architectural practice in Buffalo, New York. The firm was administered by August Carl Esenwein (1856 – 1926) and James Addison Johnson (1865 –1939). They were the architects for Gowanda State Hospital from 1896 to 1912. Gowanda Osteopathic Hospital opened its first building in 1896 upon the 500 acre tract removed from the Taylor Farm by the state of New York. Taylor had previously bequested this acreage to his many nieces and nephews.
  
Rankin and Kellogg of Philadelphia designed the new hospital buildings, and the overall appearance of the main Administration/residential buildings was modeled after Independence Hall. The total cost for the plant was $472,603.41. The facility plan was considered advanced for the times, as there were no walls surrounding the grounds nor were there bars on the windows and doors. The patients selected were non-violent, but required long-term care. They could freely move in and out of the buildings. The Pennsylvania Legislature's special commission was very impressed by the "fresh air" and spring waters in this rural setting in Berks County. The adjacent area had long been recognized for its fashionable resorts attracting many summer visitors from Philadelphia and New York.
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Gowanda State Homeopathic Hospital West Group was described in the 1930s as having 1,254 beds, having treated 1,429 patients that year by 6 house staff, with the result of a history of 4.1% deaths. There are also 10 homeopathic physicians working as consultants from the western New York area. Patients were treated under strict Homeopathic auspices. The medical complex consisted of two-story wings projecting from the main building, two three-story pavilion style buildings, two pavilions for patients with tuberculosis (TB), power house, laundry, kitchen, main dining room building, and smaller dining rooms in several buildings, farm, workshops, nurses home, store room, amusement hall/auditorium, main staff house, and superintendent’s resident -- all built prior to 1946.
  
Between June 29 and July 5, 1893 100 male patients and 30 female patients were transferred by train from other state hospitals to Wernersville. Since the main building was still under construction, the men occupied the grist mill and the females lived temporarily in the Hain cottage. Everyone was expected to work. The men began establishing the farm program and the women used the kitchen in the cottage to prepare meals for the entire group. Among the new patients was a carpenter and a stonemason and their skills were put to use right away. A stone wall for a pond was built; a dormitory was converted from a barn; tables and benches were constructed for use in the dayrooms; a patient blacksmith made tongues and axles for the wagons. By spring of 1894 the farm was in full operation and the main building was nearing completion for occupation later that summer. [[Wernersville State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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GSH also had a Hospital Nursing School, which trained employees for the facility. A graduate program was held every year on the hospital grounds in September. It included an overture, processional, invocation, solo by a singer, address, presentation of new nurses, the administration of the Nurses’ oath, and a benediction in the program. Nurse uniforms were the traditional nurses’ white cap and a seersucker dress with a white apron. The average class was coed. Many of the orderlies at GSH were Seneca Indians who lived on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation property that abutted the state hospital property. The hospital maintained an archery range, a three-hole full sized golf course, a pond stocked with fish, and a recreational center with movies shown in two showings on Saturdays. [[Gowanda State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 03:44, 19 March 2012

Featured Article Of The Week

Gowanda State Hospital


Gowanda01.jpg

Gowanda State Hospital was built by the architectural firm of Esenwein and Johnson who had an architectural practice in Buffalo, New York. The firm was administered by August Carl Esenwein (1856 – 1926) and James Addison Johnson (1865 –1939). They were the architects for Gowanda State Hospital from 1896 to 1912. Gowanda Osteopathic Hospital opened its first building in 1896 upon the 500 acre tract removed from the Taylor Farm by the state of New York. Taylor had previously bequested this acreage to his many nieces and nephews.

Gowanda State Homeopathic Hospital West Group was described in the 1930s as having 1,254 beds, having treated 1,429 patients that year by 6 house staff, with the result of a history of 4.1% deaths. There are also 10 homeopathic physicians working as consultants from the western New York area. Patients were treated under strict Homeopathic auspices. The medical complex consisted of two-story wings projecting from the main building, two three-story pavilion style buildings, two pavilions for patients with tuberculosis (TB), power house, laundry, kitchen, main dining room building, and smaller dining rooms in several buildings, farm, workshops, nurses home, store room, amusement hall/auditorium, main staff house, and superintendent’s resident -- all built prior to 1946.

GSH also had a Hospital Nursing School, which trained employees for the facility. A graduate program was held every year on the hospital grounds in September. It included an overture, processional, invocation, solo by a singer, address, presentation of new nurses, the administration of the Nurses’ oath, and a benediction in the program. Nurse uniforms were the traditional nurses’ white cap and a seersucker dress with a white apron. The average class was coed. Many of the orderlies at GSH were Seneca Indians who lived on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation property that abutted the state hospital property. The hospital maintained an archery range, a three-hole full sized golf course, a pond stocked with fish, and a recreational center with movies shown in two showings on Saturdays. Click here for more...