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

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|Title= Jamestown State Hospital
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|Title= Atlantic County Insane Asylum
|Image= Jamestown ND State Hospital 1912.jpg
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|Image= Asylum Postcard1.jpg
 
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|Body= The North Dakota State Hospital at Jamestown is one of two state institutions that predate statehood. Its location and mission as a "hospital for the insane" was authorized by the Dakota Territorial Legislature in 1883 and it opened on May 1, 1885, accepting its first two patients from Morton County. Fifty-eight patients whose addresses were in what eventually became North Dakota were moved to Jamestown from the Dakota Hospital in Yankton (now South Dakota). The first superintendent was Dr. O. Wellington Archibald, who had been an assistant surgeon at Fort Abraham Lincoln south of Mandan. By the end of 1886, the average daily census was 106 patients.
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|Body= The county insane asylum is located at 201 Shore road, at Smithslanding, in the borough of Pleasantville. The building is of brick and was erected in 1895. At a meeting of the Board of Freeholders, in the early part of that year (January 9th) Tobias L. McConnell, steward of the almshouse, suggested to the board the wisdom of providing means for taking care of the insane patients of the county on the almshouse property. The question was discussed informally and referred to a special committee to inquire into the practicability of the suggestion and report at a subsequent meeting of the board. The reason behind this suggestion was to save county money housing the chronic and incurable insane of the county.
  
But by 1892, conditions at the hospital were so crowded that attics were used for sleeping rooms and even then, patients had to sleep two to a bed, VanBeek wrote. Archibald warned the Legislature that if it didn't appropriate more money for adequate care, the hospital would be closed and each county would have to care for its own insane. He left the hospital in 1894.
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At the following meeting, held on March 13th, the committee reported through Freeholder John T. Irving, that they had visited the asymlums of Camden and Burlingotn Counties, and the results in both counties were very satisfactory, both as to the condition of the patients and the cost of maintenance. The committee was thereupon instructed to procure an approximate estimate of the cost of a building suited to the needs of Atlantic County. Two months later this committee reported an approximate estimate of the cost of maintaining the proposed county lunatic asylum at $3,500 annually after deducting the amount to be derived from the State. The following resolution was therefore adopted: "Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed to secure plans, invite proposals and award a contract for the erection of an insane asylum and that work on the same be commenced and pushed to completion at the earliest possible date."
  
By 1904, the census had risen to an average of 401 and still there were no additional buildings. Two buildings had been started in 1903 but construction was halted when the funding process was found unconstitutional, wrote VanBeek?. When the state began enforcing laws that allowed it to collect fees from patients' families or their home counties, the construction started again and the two new buildings were completed. Staff was increased so that patients would not have to be locked in their rooms at night or restrained during the day. [[Jamestown State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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Mr. Irving offered a second resolution, which was also adopted, providing for an issue of county bonds, not exceeding $25,000 in the aggregate, to pay for the proposed asylum. Plan were prepared by William G. Hoopes, architect, proposals were invited and the contract awarded on August 13, 1895 to J. Summerill Smith, of Atlantic City, for the sum of $21,490. [[Atlantic County Insane Asylum|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 03:42, 21 May 2012

Featured Article Of The Week

Atlantic County Insane Asylum


Asylum Postcard1.jpg

The county insane asylum is located at 201 Shore road, at Smithslanding, in the borough of Pleasantville. The building is of brick and was erected in 1895. At a meeting of the Board of Freeholders, in the early part of that year (January 9th) Tobias L. McConnell, steward of the almshouse, suggested to the board the wisdom of providing means for taking care of the insane patients of the county on the almshouse property. The question was discussed informally and referred to a special committee to inquire into the practicability of the suggestion and report at a subsequent meeting of the board. The reason behind this suggestion was to save county money housing the chronic and incurable insane of the county.

At the following meeting, held on March 13th, the committee reported through Freeholder John T. Irving, that they had visited the asymlums of Camden and Burlingotn Counties, and the results in both counties were very satisfactory, both as to the condition of the patients and the cost of maintenance. The committee was thereupon instructed to procure an approximate estimate of the cost of a building suited to the needs of Atlantic County. Two months later this committee reported an approximate estimate of the cost of maintaining the proposed county lunatic asylum at $3,500 annually after deducting the amount to be derived from the State. The following resolution was therefore adopted: "Resolved, That a committee of seven be appointed to secure plans, invite proposals and award a contract for the erection of an insane asylum and that work on the same be commenced and pushed to completion at the earliest possible date."

Mr. Irving offered a second resolution, which was also adopted, providing for an issue of county bonds, not exceeding $25,000 in the aggregate, to pay for the proposed asylum. Plan were prepared by William G. Hoopes, architect, proposals were invited and the contract awarded on August 13, 1895 to J. Summerill Smith, of Atlantic City, for the sum of $21,490. Click here for more...