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

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|Title= Arizona State Hospital
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|Title= St Elizabeths Hospital
|Image= Arizona_State_Hospital_PC.jpg
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|Image= St_Elizabeth_SH_Kirkbride.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
|Body= Eight years after Arizona became a separate territory from New Mexico, the concept that mental illness is a state responsibility was first recognized by the Territorial Legislature. On February 17, 1871, legislation was enacted which stated that the various Boards of Supervisors of the counties must provide for the confinement of all insane persons, "either in the County jail or in such other manner and place as shall be in their judgment be best for the safety of said insane person and of the community."
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|Body= In November of 1852 a tract of land overlooking the Anacostia River was purchased for $25,000 from Thomas Blagden. Construction began almost immediately on the center building, a red brick fortress designed in Gothic revival style by Thomas U. Walter, who also designed the dome of the Capital Building. The hospital was built following the Kirkbride Plan, most of the construction of the center building was done by slaves. It opened in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane. The Hospital's early mission, as defined by its founder, the leading mental health reformer Dorothea Dix, was to provide the "most humane care and enlightened curative treatment of the insane of the Army, Navy, and District of Columbia." During the Civil War, wounded soldiers treated here were reluctant to admit that they were in an insane asylum, and said they were at St. Elizabeth's, the colonial name of the land where the Hospital is located. Congress officially changed the Hospital's name to St. Elizabeth's in 1916. By the 1940s, the Hospital complex covering an area of over 300 acres. At its peak, 4,000 people worked and 7,000 patients lived there. It was the first and only federal mental facility with a national scope. The first appropriation towards building the Government Hospital for the Insane was of $100,000, and was made by Congress in 1852 for the purchase of land. The organic act creating the institution and outlining the duties of its officers and providing for the admission of various classes of insane patients was not approved until March 3, 1855. The hospital, however, had been opened for the reception of patients on January 15,1855.  [[St Elizabeths Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
In 1885, the 13th Territorial Legislature met to appropriate $100,000 for the construction of the "Insane Asylum of Phoenix" in Arizona. In addition, an Honorary Board of Directors of the Insane Asylum of Phoenix was established. County bonds were issued for $3,500 for 160 acres with water rights 2-1/2 miles east of Phoenix. Construction began in 1886, to accommodate up to 280 patients, taking eight months to complete.
 
 
 
The "Insane Asylum of Phoenix" opened early in January 1887, for 61 patients with the completion of "D" building. This was actually 3 buildings with 2 patient wings and a central administrative facility.
 
 
 
Under the Board's direction, the remaining 160 acres was cleared of brush for grain crops, a vegetable garden, a vineyard and an orchard with 2,000 trees. In addition, a small area was set aside for a staff and patient cemetery, which has 2400 graves dating back to 1888. Among those buried in "All Souls Cemetery" is Corporal Isaiah Mays, a Buffalo Soldier who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.  [[Arizona State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
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Revision as of 05:37, 28 June 2020

Featured Article Of The Week

St Elizabeths Hospital


St Elizabeth SH Kirkbride.jpg

In November of 1852 a tract of land overlooking the Anacostia River was purchased for $25,000 from Thomas Blagden. Construction began almost immediately on the center building, a red brick fortress designed in Gothic revival style by Thomas U. Walter, who also designed the dome of the Capital Building. The hospital was built following the Kirkbride Plan, most of the construction of the center building was done by slaves. It opened in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane. The Hospital's early mission, as defined by its founder, the leading mental health reformer Dorothea Dix, was to provide the "most humane care and enlightened curative treatment of the insane of the Army, Navy, and District of Columbia." During the Civil War, wounded soldiers treated here were reluctant to admit that they were in an insane asylum, and said they were at St. Elizabeth's, the colonial name of the land where the Hospital is located. Congress officially changed the Hospital's name to St. Elizabeth's in 1916. By the 1940s, the Hospital complex covering an area of over 300 acres. At its peak, 4,000 people worked and 7,000 patients lived there. It was the first and only federal mental facility with a national scope. The first appropriation towards building the Government Hospital for the Insane was of $100,000, and was made by Congress in 1852 for the purchase of land. The organic act creating the institution and outlining the duties of its officers and providing for the admission of various classes of insane patients was not approved until March 3, 1855. The hospital, however, had been opened for the reception of patients on January 15,1855. Click here for more...