Wyoming State Hospital

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Wyoming State Hospital
Construction Began 1887
Current Status Active
Building Style Cottage Plan
Location Evanston, WY
Alternate Names Wyoming State Hospital for the Insane



The State of Wyoming has demonstrated a historical interest in the mentally ill, as is demonstrated by a legislative proclamation on December 7, 1869, that stated, “provide for ...idiots, lunatics, and insane persons by transporting them to any eastern asylum". In March of 1886, the Wyoming Territorial Legislature appropriated $30,000 for the erection of a State Mental Hospital. The "Insane Asylum" was completed in 1887. On March 1, 1897, the fourth Wyoming Legislature changed the Hospital name to the Wyoming State Hospital for the Insane. In 1923, the Seventeenth Legislature declared, “the official name of the asylum shall be the Wyoming State Hospital.”

The first building in 1887 housed male patients and their attendants on the first floor, women patients and their attendants on the second floor, and kitchens, pantries, and storerooms in the basement. The present campus encompasses over twenty-five buildings. In addition to the five treatment units housed in nine treatment halls, there are facilities for staff as well as a chapel, Canteen Country Store, and a dining room and kitchen complex for residents and staff.