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

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|Title= Eloise Asylum
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|Title= Clarks Summit State Hospital
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|Image= Clarks_Summit_N1.jpg
 
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|Body= In 1839, only two years after Michigan had joined the Union, Wayne County paid $800 to buy a 160-acre farm in Nankin Township (now Westland). The purchase included a log cabin known as the Black Horse Tavern. The County erected an addition to the tavern building and used it to house 35 needy people, a keeper and his wife. They called it the Wayne County Poorhouse. Its first residents were transferred from another poorhouse at Gratiot and Mt. Elliott in Detroit . Many refused to move, claiming the new poorhouse was "too far out in the wilderness." And they were right -- at that time the corner of Michigan and Merriman was nearly two days by stage coach from Detroit.
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|Body= Clarks Summit State Hospital originated in 1862 when citizens of Providence Township developed a poor farm. As the years passed, the mentally ill were also provided care at the facility. At a later date, the responsibility for the operation of the poor farm was assumed by the City of Scranton, the Borough of Dunmore, and eventually, Lackawanna County. On September 29, 1938 the state took control of the hospital as part of the "Full State Care Act". The legislature (Act #53) assumed responsibility for eight of the thirteen existing county public mental hospitals, the other five hospitals were closed.
  
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But that was what the county officials had in mind. They wanted somewhere well out of sight to send what they saw as society's dregs -- the vagrants, vagabonds, drunkards, pilferers and brawlers. With such a broad charter, it wasn't long before the feeble-minded and the insane were being housed there. Records show that a Biddy Hughes was Eloise's first official mental patient, committed by her family in 1841. She was in her mid-30s when admitted and was kept there until her death 58 years later.
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By the early 1940's, the Hillside Home and Hillside Hospital were operational in buildings currently named Abington Hall and Newton Hall. The name was changed from Hillside Home and Hospital to Clarks Summit State Hospital on October 1, 1943, when the Department of Public Welfare, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, assumed the responsibility to operate and manage state mental hospitals.
  
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Prior to the 1840s, little distinction was made between rational and mentally ill inmates. A county report from the 1840s made reference to harsh restraints used to separate the mentally ill from other inmates. The mentally ill were housed on the upper floor of a farm building used to keep pigs. [[Eloise Asylum|Click here for more...]]
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By the mid 1950's Clarks Summit State Hospital was serving the residents of Lackawanna County and approximately 150 Luzerne County residents who were transferred in 1947 after the Ransom Home was destroyed by fire. The total hospital population at that time was 1,450 patients.
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As newer types of psychotropic medications and other psychosocial rehabilitative approaches were found effective in the treatment of the mentally ill, the census of the hospital declined. The hospital was then assigned the responsibility for various other geographical areas in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Several new buildings were constructed: Hilltop East (originally a tuberculosis ward), Hilltop West (a geriatric building), a Recreation Hall, a Laundry Facility, and a Warehouse. [[Clarks Summit State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 03:47, 22 February 2016

Featured Article Of The Week

Clarks Summit State Hospital


Clarks Summit N1.jpg

Clarks Summit State Hospital originated in 1862 when citizens of Providence Township developed a poor farm. As the years passed, the mentally ill were also provided care at the facility. At a later date, the responsibility for the operation of the poor farm was assumed by the City of Scranton, the Borough of Dunmore, and eventually, Lackawanna County. On September 29, 1938 the state took control of the hospital as part of the "Full State Care Act". The legislature (Act #53) assumed responsibility for eight of the thirteen existing county public mental hospitals, the other five hospitals were closed.

By the early 1940's, the Hillside Home and Hillside Hospital were operational in buildings currently named Abington Hall and Newton Hall. The name was changed from Hillside Home and Hospital to Clarks Summit State Hospital on October 1, 1943, when the Department of Public Welfare, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, assumed the responsibility to operate and manage state mental hospitals.

By the mid 1950's Clarks Summit State Hospital was serving the residents of Lackawanna County and approximately 150 Luzerne County residents who were transferred in 1947 after the Ransom Home was destroyed by fire. The total hospital population at that time was 1,450 patients.

As newer types of psychotropic medications and other psychosocial rehabilitative approaches were found effective in the treatment of the mentally ill, the census of the hospital declined. The hospital was then assigned the responsibility for various other geographical areas in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Several new buildings were constructed: Hilltop East (originally a tuberculosis ward), Hilltop West (a geriatric building), a Recreation Hall, a Laundry Facility, and a Warehouse. Click here for more...

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