Crownsville State Hospital - Revision history

M-Explorer at 13:04, 2 February 2025

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Squad546 at 23:49, 28 July 2020

2020-07-28T23:49:16Z

M-Explorer at 10:55, 14 November 2014

2014-11-14T10:55:51Z

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M-Explorer at 10:22, 19 December 2011

2011-12-19T10:22:11Z

Squad546 at 19:57, 4 June 2010

2010-06-04T19:57:37Z

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2010-05-31T20:17:39Z

Thomasp94 at 17:52, 10 February 2010

2010-02-10T17:52:40Z

Thomasp94: Created page with '{{infobox institution | name = Crownsville State Hospital | image = CrownsvilleSH 01.jpg | image_size = 250px | alt = | caption = | established = April 11, 1910 | construction_…'

2010-02-10T16:39:23Z

Created page with '{{infobox institution | name = Crownsville State Hospital | image = CrownsvilleSH 01.jpg | image_size = 250px | alt = | caption = | established = April 11, 1910 | construction_…'

New page

{{infobox institution
| name = Crownsville State Hospital
| image = CrownsvilleSH 01.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| alt =
| caption =
| established = April 11, 1910
| construction_began =
| construction_ended =
| opened = March 13, 1911
| closed = July 2004
| demolished =
| current_status = [[Closed Institution|Closed]]
| building_style = [[Cottage Planned Institutions|Cottage Plan]]
| architect(s) =
| location =
| architecture_style =
| peak_patient_population = 2,710 in 1955
| alternate_names =
Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland
}}

Crownsville State Hospital was established by Chapter 250, Acts of 1910, as the Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland, with Robert Winterode, M.D. as Superintendent. It was opened to patients in 1911. It adopted its present name by Chapter 187, Acts of 1912. Chapter 686 of the Acts of 1949 omitted reference to race. The hospital provided for the care of mentally ill patients from Baltimore City zones 1, 2, 5, 6, 13, 22, 24, and 31, and Anne Arundel, Charles,
Calvert and St. Mary's Counties. Staff: 1965, 904; Staff-. 1966, 918. Originally built to house only African Americans. By 1948 the hospital had approximately 1,800 patients. Patient population peaked in 1955 with 2,710 and was integrated by 1962.

After serving the state psychiatric inpatient population for over ninety years, Crownsville Hospital Center closed on June 30, 2004. Two hundred patients were transferred to Spring Grove and Springfield Hospitals, and clinical staff was transferred with them. Currently, there is a skeleton crew at Crownsville to maintain the buildings and provide security. An environmental firm is investigating the land to determine if chemicals are buried there. Anne Arundel County is being offered the land for free as it has the first right of refusal before the state offers it to others.

The MHA budget for Crownsville for fiscal year 2006 is now $1.6 million, down from $27 million in fiscal year 2005. Four million of these savings will be available annually for a five county collaboration (Anne Arundel, Prince George’s, Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary’s) to provide community services. These services will include in-home support services for children and adolescents to maintain them in their communities and the development of Assertive Community Treatment models for adults with persistent and serious mental illness. The rest of the savings will be used to reduce the state budget deficit for the Mental Hygiene Administration.

For many employees, the transition period was a sad time as many had worked there for years. Sheilah Davenport, Crownsville’s Acting CEO since March of 2003, acknowledged that Crownsville staff were like family, with some employees having had parents who worked there before them. Paul Lurz, Director of Performance Improvement, retired after working there for 40 years. He regrets that Crownsville has closed, noting that its history was marked by a commitment to patients’ rights beginning with its inception in l912 to serve the African American population needing psychiatric care. In the l950s, Crownsville’s Superintendent, Dr. Morgenstern, refused to allow lobotomies, and he was the first director to hire African American staff. In the l960s, Charles Ward, the superintendent at that time, released African Americans who were hospitalized simply because they were demonstrating for civil rights, sending a letter to the papers denouncing their hospitalizations. Paul Lurz also describes Crownsville as being the hospital known for its reluctance to put patients on the streets without post hospital arrangements.

According to CEO Sheilah Davenport, the first inquiry into closing a state hospital occurred in December 2002 when a State Legislative Analyst recommended closure to help resolve the State’s budget deficit. Legislators asked the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) to choose one to close and withheld $2 million from the their budget until a final report was presented to the Legislature. The recommendation was to close a facility which would have the least impact on patients, their families, and staff while ensuring that all state beds would be maintained within the system. The recommendation was to close Crownsville-- it was the smallest hospital, and its patients could be more easily transferred to the two larger facilities, keeping the number of beds intact.

In October 2003, Nelson Sabatini, Secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, went to Crownsville to inform staff that their hospital was being considered for closure and to reassure them the Department would ensure a smooth transition and attempt, to the best of its ability, to find placements for staff. For the next several months, staff awaited a final decision by the legislature. CEO Sheilah Davenport met on a regular basis with staff to keep them informed and the CEOs of the three hospitals held ongoing meetings to determine where and when to transfer patients and staff with the least disruptions to continuity of care. The decision was made to move the Adolescent and Geriatric units to Spring Grove as this location was more accessible to families while the long term unit went to Springfield as the impact on families was less for this patient group. The Intermediate Unit and the Forensic Admissions Unit went to Spring Grove while the Civil Admissions Unit went to Springfield. Staff placement notifications were made in February, followed by patients and families being informed in April of their transfer location. Everyone was reassured that staff on the unit was accompanying the patients being transferred from those units and further reassurances were given by providing tours of the other hospitals for staff and patients.

Despite these efforts, some staff continued to be anxious about their duties at the new hospital while others were pleased with how the transition was handled. Ms. Davenport acknowledged that this was a difficult time for Crownsville staff and complimented them on their dedication to their patients during and after the transition. Currently, most staff has remained in their new positions though some are still adjusting to their new environments at Springfield and Spring Grove.

== Images of Crownsville State Hospital ==
{{image gallery|[[Crownsville State Hospital Image Gallery|Crownsville State Hospital]]}}

<gallery>
File:CrownsvilleSH 04 1915.jpg
File:CrownsvilleSH 03 1915.jpg
</gallery>

== Links & Additional Information ==
*[http://www.mdhistpics.net/dsp_t275.cfm Maryland State Archives Photo Gallery]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crownsville_Hospital_Center Wikipedia Entry]
*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081101821_pf.html Washington Post article on hospital's history]
*[http://www.forgottenphotography.com/crownsville/ Photos taken after the hospital closed]

[[Category:Maryland]]
[[Category:Cottage Plan]]
[[Category:Closed Institution]]

@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 Despite these efforts, some staff continued to be anxious about their duties at the new hospital while others were pleased with how the transition was handled. Ms. Davenport acknowledged that this was a difficult time for Crownsville staff and complimented them on their dedication to their patients during and after the transition. Currently, most staff has remained in their new positions though some are still adjusting to their new environments at Springfield and Spring Grove.
 == Images of Crownsville State Hospital ==
@@ Line 91: / Line 98: @@
 </gallery>
-==Cemetery==
+==Videos==
-'''From a Washington Post story, Sept. 16, 2004:'''<br>
+*The documentary, produced by Best Documentary and directed by R. Todd Stevens, provides an in-depth look at Crownsville State Hospital's complex history.
-A forlorn cemetery where the weatherworn tombstones lie flat and bear numbers instead of names was dedicated last week as a sanctuary that state officials vowed to preserve. Nelson J. Sabatini, the Maryland Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene, on Friday said the hundreds of people buried at Crownsville Hospital Center would not be forgotten, even if their identities won't ever be known. Founded in 1910 as the Hospital for the Negro Insane, the hospital interred its patients during the early part of the century on a rolling hill on the grounds. But often it didn't mark their names on the tombstones.
+{{#ev:youtube|jVC_W0_4obM}}
 == Links & Additional Information ==
@@ Line 114: / Line 117: @@
 [[Category:Closed Institution]]
 [[Category:Institution With A Cemetery]]
 [[Category:Past Featured Article Of The Week]]

@@ Line 104: / Line 104: @@
 *[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081101821_pf.html Washington Post article on hospital's history]
 *[http://www.forgottenphotography.com/crownsville/ Photos taken after the hospital closed]
-*[http://www.crownsvillehospital:fromlunacytolegacy.com Crownsville Hospital Film]
+*[https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crownsville-Hospital-From-Lunacy-To-Legacy/460083267418497 Crownsville Hospital Film]
 ==References==

@@ Line 104: / Line 104: @@
 *[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081101821_pf.html Washington Post article on hospital's history]
 *[http://www.forgottenphotography.com/crownsville/ Photos taken after the hospital closed]
+*[http://www.crownsvillehospital:fromlunacytolegacy.com Crownsville Hospital Film]
 ==References==

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:22, 19 December 2011
Line 114:		Line 114:
	[[Category:Closed Institution]]		[[Category:Closed Institution]]
	[[Category:Institution With A Cemetery]]		[[Category:Institution With A Cemetery]]
		+	[[Category:Past Featured Article Of The Week]]

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 | architecture_style =
 | peak_patient_population = 2,710 in 1955
-| alternate_names =
+| alternate_names =<br>
-Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland
+*Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland
 }}
 [[image:CrownsvilleSH 03 1915.jpg|300px|left]]
 The hospital for the negro insane of Maryland, now known as the Crownsville State Hospital, was created by an act of the General Assembly on April 11, 1910, which made an appropriation of $100,000 for the purchase of land and the erection of buildings. Sections of the act creating the hospital, Chapter 250, Laws of Maryland, 1910, provided that there should be established in the State of Maryland an institution for the detention and care of the negro insane of the state. It was expressly provided that the hospital should not be located in Baltimore City.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 | current_status = [[Closed Institution|Closed]]
 | building_style = [[Cottage Planned Institutions|Cottage Plan]]
-| architect(s) =
+| architect(s) = Baldwin & Pennington/Henry Powell Hopkins
-| location =
+| location = Crownsville, MD
 | architecture_style =
 | peak_patient_population = 2,710 in 1955

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland
 }}
-Crownsville State Hospital was established by Chapter 250, Acts of 1910, as the Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland, with Robert Winterode, M.D. as Superintendent. It was opened to patients in 1911. It adopted its present name by Chapter 187, Acts of 1912. Chapter 686 of the Acts of 1949 omitted reference to race. The hospital provided for the care of mentally ill patients from Baltimore City zones 1, 2, 5, 6, 13, 22, 24, and 31, and Anne Arundel, Charles,
+It was further provided that the Board of Managers of the hospital was to consist of the Governor, ex-officio; State Treasurer, Comptroller of the Treasury, and six other persons, to constitute a body corporate under the title of the " Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland," with the power to appoint the necessary officers and agents. The act named the following persons, who, together with the Governor, State Comptroller and State Treasurer, were to constitute the first Board of Managers of the hospital: Hugh H. Young and Thomas Parran, to serve from the date of the passage of the act until the first of May, 1912; John T. Daily and William L. Marbury, to serve until the first day of May, 1914; J. Harry Covington and Henry P. Mann, to serve until the first day of May, 1916. It was provided that the Board of Managers should be divided into three classes, one-third of whom should go out of office every two years; and the Governor should have power, in case of any vacancy occurring, to appoint a person or persons to fill such vacancy or vacancies for the balance of term of said class. It was further enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland "that the Board of Managers immediately proceed to the erection, construction and equipment of suitable buildings to care for such of the negro insane of the State of Maryland as may be sent to the said hospital from time to time, in accordance with the general provisions of the acts of the General Assembly of Maryland relative to the care and treatment of the insane of the state."
-After serving the state psychiatric inpatient population for over ninety years, Crownsville Hospital Center closed on June 30, 2004. Two hundred patients were transferred to Spring Grove and Springfield Hospitals, and clinical staff was transferred with them. Currently, there is a skeleton crew at Crownsville to maintain the buildings and provide security. An environmental firm is investigating the land to determine if chemicals are buried there. Anne Arundel County is being offered the land for free as it has the first right of refusal before the state offers it to others.
+On December 13, 1910, the board by formal resolution purchased the Boswell-Garrett-Hatch farm, located at Crownsville, Anne Arundel County, comprising 566 acres of land, with all improvements thereon, for the sum of $19,000. The title to the property having been examined by the Title Guarantee and Trust Company of Baltimore and found correct, the deed was transferred to the State of Maryland on May 22, 1911. The Board of Managers organizing on May 15, 1910, elected their respective officers and adopted by-laws. At the meeting of the Board of Managers of May 23, 1910, Dr. Robert P. Winterode was appointed superintendent.
 The MHA budget for Crownsville for fiscal year 2006 is now $1.6 million, down from $27 million in fiscal year 2005. Four million of these savings will be available annually for a five county collaboration (Anne Arundel, Prince George’s, Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary’s) to provide community services. These services will include in-home support services for children and adolescents to maintain them in their communities and the development of Assertive Community Treatment models for adults with persistent and serious mental illness. The rest of the savings will be used to reduce the state budget deficit for the Mental Hygiene Administration.
@@ Line 53: / Line 96: @@