Butner State Hospital

Butner State Hospital
Construction Began	1941
Current Status	Active
Building Style	Cottage Plan
Peak Patient Population	13,875 in 1954
Alternate Names	John Umstead Hospital

"John Umstead Hospital, purchased from the federal government who had built the facilities as an Army Hospital for wounded U.S. military personnel returned from the European front during WWII, admitted the first patients in 1947. The hospital serves the 16 counties of the North Central Region. The hospital's primary purpose is to provide an inpatient facility to diagnose and treat persons with psychiatric disorders, to restore them to an optimal level of functioning, and to return them to the community. This service is provided for clients age 6 years and up. Other important hospital functions are to promote education and research in mental health." The hospital serves 14 counties in north central North Carolina. It has 321 beds. It is scheduled to close in 2008. It will merge with Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, which is also scheduled to close in 2008 – creating the Central Regional Psychiatric Hospital.