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

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|Title= St Elizabeths Hospital
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|Title= Retreat State Hospital
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|Image= St_Elizabeth_SH_Kirkbride.jpg
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|Image= Retreat_Asylum_RPPC.JPG
 
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|Body= In November of 1852 a tract of land overlooking the Anacostia River was purchased for $25,000 from Thomas Blagden. Construction began almost immediately on the center building, a red brick fortress designed in Gothic revival style by Thomas U. Walter, who also designed the dome of the Capital Building. The hospital was built following the Kirkbride Plan, most of the construction of the center building was done by slaves.[1] It opened in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane. The Hospital's early mission, as defined by its founder, the leading mental health reformer Dorothea Dix, was to provide the "most humane care and enlightened curative treatment of the insane of the Army, Navy, and District of Columbia." During the Civil War, wounded soldiers treated here were reluctant to admit that they were in an insane asylum, and said they were at St. Elizabeth's, the colonial name of the land where the Hospital is located. Congress officially changed the Hospital's name to St. Elizabeth's in 1916. By the 1940s, the Hospital complex covering an area of over 300 acres. At its peak, 4,000 people worked and 7,000 patients lived there.[2] It was the first and only federal mental facility with a national scope. The first appropriation towards building the Government Hospital for the Insane was of $100,000, and was made by Congress in 1852 for the purchase of land. The organic act creating the institution and outlining the duties of its officers and providing for the admission of various classes of insane patients was not approved until March 3, 1855. The hospital, however, had been opened for the reception of patients on January 15,1855.
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|Body= The Central Poor District was first set up in 1860 by an act of the State Legislature and 146 acres of land were subsequently purchased for the purpose of erecting buildings for the care of the poor. This land was located in Newport Township, Luzerne County along the banks of the Susquehanna River and about 14 miles from Wilkes-Barre. Outdoor pavilions were established to care for the poor on this land until 1878 when a need was seen for additional space and more permanent facilities. A Female Ward was erected in 1878, a Male Ward in1884, and an addition was added to the Male Ward in 1895. Together, these comprised the Luzerne County Almshouse.
  
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The creation of the hospital was due very largely to the activity of Dorothea L. Dix. She drew up with her own pen the outlines of the organic act establishing the institution, and virtually named its first superintendent , Dr. C. H. Nicholas. During the latter part of her life Miss Dix spent much of her time at the hospital, where quarters were always reserved for her, and the little desk upon which she drew up the original act creating the hospital stands in the board room in the main building.  [[St Elizabeths Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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By 1890, the District took on the responsibility of caring for mentally ill patients and in 1900 the new Hospital for the Insane opened its door at the site. Sometime between 1921 and 1926 the name was changed to Retreat Mental Hospital, although it was still governed by the Central Poor District of Luzerne County. By an Act of the Legislature in 1937 the haphazard system of Poor Districts was abolished, and County Institution Districts were set up. Though County Commissioners assumed control of poor and indigent sick relief in the counties, management of individual institutions remained the same.  [[Retreat State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Latest revision as of 05:30, 26 May 2024

Featured Article Of The Week

Retreat State Hospital


Retreat Asylum RPPC.JPG

The Central Poor District was first set up in 1860 by an act of the State Legislature and 146 acres of land were subsequently purchased for the purpose of erecting buildings for the care of the poor. This land was located in Newport Township, Luzerne County along the banks of the Susquehanna River and about 14 miles from Wilkes-Barre. Outdoor pavilions were established to care for the poor on this land until 1878 when a need was seen for additional space and more permanent facilities. A Female Ward was erected in 1878, a Male Ward in1884, and an addition was added to the Male Ward in 1895. Together, these comprised the Luzerne County Almshouse.

By 1890, the District took on the responsibility of caring for mentally ill patients and in 1900 the new Hospital for the Insane opened its door at the site. Sometime between 1921 and 1926 the name was changed to Retreat Mental Hospital, although it was still governed by the Central Poor District of Luzerne County. By an Act of the Legislature in 1937 the haphazard system of Poor Districts was abolished, and County Institution Districts were set up. Though County Commissioners assumed control of poor and indigent sick relief in the counties, management of individual institutions remained the same. Click here for more...

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