Larned State Hospital

Larned State Hospital
Established	1912
Construction Began	1913
Opened	1914
Current Status	Active
Building Style	Cottage Plan
Architect(s)	C.H. Chandler
Location	Larned,KS
Peak Patient Population	2,035 in 1946
Alternate Names	Larned State Hospital for the Criminally Insane Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility

History

Larned State Hospital was first opened on April 17th, 1914. The hospital was opened to ease overcrowding in two other established state hospitals in Kansas which were located in the eastern part of the state, Osawatomie State Hospital and Topeka State Hospital. The new ‘insane asylum’ at Larned was a preferred location because of the plentiful water supply. ‘Useful employment’ (farming) was the method of treatment to be used at LSH. In fact, early criteria critical to the selection of the first patients to populate the new hospital were being male, possessing the ability to work on the farm and being diagnosed as never becoming well enough to be discharged. No female patients were admitted until 1916. In an effort to ease the overcrowding, an annex was opened at the Army Air Force base in Great Bend which housed approximately 300 patients in 1947. The unit was designed to exclusively deal with elderly and custodial patients.The farming operation continued until the 1950’s. Adolescents and children were not admitted until the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

The Adult Treatment Center building opened in 1990 to house the general psychiatric population on what is now called the Psychiatric Services Program, serving individuals admitted from the LSH catchment area as a voluntary or civilly committed patients.

The State Security Program (SSP) which was known as the program for the ‘criminally insane’ was first opened at LSH in March 27, 1939. The SSP, originally opened March 27, 1939, to house the criminally insane, opened on the Dillon building, with the transfer of 100 patients from Lansing State Prison. The SSP is housed in the Isaac Ray building and currently serves 170 patients on six units. During 2016, a reduction of 60 State Security Program beds occurred in two phases, June 10, 2016 (South 2 unit), and South 3 was closed April 26, 2016. Patients from those two units were returned to the KDOC where they are currently housed at a cost of $40.00 per day.

The Sexual Predator Treatment Program (SPTP) was first opened at Larned in 1994. It is primarily housed on the Dillon Building (4 units). Additionally, one 20 bed unit is on the Isaac Ray Building and two units are on Jung Building. A transitional housing unit is housed on the Meyer Building.

Images of Larned State Hospital

Main Image Gallery: Larned State Hospital

• 
• 
• 

Sources

Larned State Hospital: The First Fifty Years by David K. Clapsaddle (1980)