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

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|Title= Bolivar State Hospital
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|Title= Northampton State Hospital
|Image= Bolivar_State_Hospital_2.jpg
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|Image= Northampton_insane_asylum.jpg
 
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|Body= Opened to receive patients on November 22, 1889, the then denoted "West Tennessee Hospital for the Insane" was designed by architect Harry P. MacDonald of Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, Tennessee. The MacDonald firm was responsible for many fine, large public buildings in the South, such as the Sevier County Courthouse in Sevierville, Tennessee (1896). The institution was intended not only to meet the mental health needs of the Western Section of the State, but also to complete Tennessee's first efforts at implementing a social policy initiated before the Civil War. Tennessee initiated its public policy regarding the institutionalization of the mentally-ill in the 1840s. The "lunatic asylum" in Nashville soon proved inadequate and architect Adolphus Heiman produced a Gothic Revival design following the advice of Thomas S. Kirkbride.
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|Body= The Lunatic Hospital at Northampton was authorized in 1855 to relieve overcrowding in the Commonwealth's existing asylums at Worcester and Taunton, and especially to serve the population of the state's four western counties. It was planned for 250 patients, a population that was not expected to be reached for some time. Before the improvement of the originally purchased 185 acres overlooking the town of Northampton, one mile to the east. Built in 1856, the Northampton Lunatic Hospital was the fourth Kirkbride building constructed; it originally consisted of a single three-story brick building in the Gothic Revival style and had a capacity for 250 patients. Following the Kirkbride design, the central administration floors were flanked by two patient wings, one for males and one for females. After numerous expansions and additions to relieve overcrowding, the building has become a confusing maze of rooms and hallways.  [[Northampton State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
By 1892, 319 patients were living in the mental hospital. Entertainment, work, diet, and discipline were still considered the main types of therapy. In 1900 the hospital was overcrowded with 594 patients. It was continually being modernized and around 1910 a new wing was built. When weather allowed, the unfinished wing was used as sleeping quarters for several patients. Other additions to the facility were constructed in the 1920s. These included a tubercular hospital or ward and a congregate dining room. In 1927 the two story brick Doctors' Apartment Building was constructed, while an adjacent frame cottage was built by the family of a former patient. These structures emphasize the growth of professional medical staff as well as changes in therapies in treating the mentally ill.  [[Bolivar State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
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Revision as of 11:35, 21 December 2025

Featured Article Of The Week

Northampton State Hospital


Northampton insane asylum.jpg

The Lunatic Hospital at Northampton was authorized in 1855 to relieve overcrowding in the Commonwealth's existing asylums at Worcester and Taunton, and especially to serve the population of the state's four western counties. It was planned for 250 patients, a population that was not expected to be reached for some time. Before the improvement of the originally purchased 185 acres overlooking the town of Northampton, one mile to the east. Built in 1856, the Northampton Lunatic Hospital was the fourth Kirkbride building constructed; it originally consisted of a single three-story brick building in the Gothic Revival style and had a capacity for 250 patients. Following the Kirkbride design, the central administration floors were flanked by two patient wings, one for males and one for females. After numerous expansions and additions to relieve overcrowding, the building has become a confusing maze of rooms and hallways. Click here for more...