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By 1830, overcrowding necessitated further expansion, and a new alms house for men and another for women, a separate hospital and a workhouse were built from 1827 to 1832. This included departments for children as well as a colored department. This complex was built across the Schuylkill River in Blockley Township, in what is now University City in West Philadelphia. William Strickland was the architect and Samuel Sloan, later to be a well-known architect, worked as journeyman carpenter on the project. This facility soon became known as "Old Bockley". Operated by a city committee known as the Guardians of the Poor, Blockley’s early reputation for care was dismal. In 1864, the "Female Lunatic Asylum" building was accidentally destroyed by workers installing heaters, killing 18 women and injuring another 20. [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D05E0D8143EEE34BC4A51DFB166838F679FDE Article on Fire] By 1885 there had been four fires at the institution. Blockley's geographical isolation from city medical institutions limited clinical care until the University of Pennsylvania, with its medical school, moved to a new site just north of the Almshouse grounds in 1871. | By 1830, overcrowding necessitated further expansion, and a new alms house for men and another for women, a separate hospital and a workhouse were built from 1827 to 1832. This included departments for children as well as a colored department. This complex was built across the Schuylkill River in Blockley Township, in what is now University City in West Philadelphia. William Strickland was the architect and Samuel Sloan, later to be a well-known architect, worked as journeyman carpenter on the project. This facility soon became known as "Old Bockley". Operated by a city committee known as the Guardians of the Poor, Blockley’s early reputation for care was dismal. In 1864, the "Female Lunatic Asylum" building was accidentally destroyed by workers installing heaters, killing 18 women and injuring another 20. [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D05E0D8143EEE34BC4A51DFB166838F679FDE Article on Fire] By 1885 there had been four fires at the institution. Blockley's geographical isolation from city medical institutions limited clinical care until the University of Pennsylvania, with its medical school, moved to a new site just north of the Almshouse grounds in 1871. | ||
| − | Despite the huge size of the institution for its time, with the ability to accommodate about 3,000, by 1870 it was overcrowded with a population of 3,789. According to the 1878 Annual report of the Board of Commissioners of Public Charities Blockley's Insane department housed 1,200, accounting for a full quarter of all insane in the state. In order to address this overcrowding at Blockley the state built the State Asylum for the Insane at Norristown, opening in 1880 | + | Despite the huge size of the institution for its time, with the ability to accommodate about 3,000, by 1870 it was overcrowded with a population of 3,789. According to the 1878 Annual report of the Board of Commissioners of Public Charities Blockley's Insane department housed 1,200, accounting for a full quarter of all insane in the state. In order to address this overcrowding at Blockley the state built the State Asylum for the Insane at Norristown, opening in 1880. In 1884 the State Luncay Commission ordered all insane in the state almshouses be transfered to their districts respective hospital. Despite this many insane remained at Blockley simply due to lack of accomidations at Norristown. In 1889 this was amended to allow for transfer of some classes patients back to state almshouses. |
| − | As the latter 19th century saw advancements in both medicine and psychiatry, Blockley’s mission gradually embraced that of a more conventional public hospital. A nursing school was opened at the site 1885 under the direction of Alice Fisher, replacing ad hoc patient nurses with a system of skilled nursing. In 1903, operations of the hospital were turned over to the newly created Bureau of Hospitals in the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In 1906, the insane were moved to the Byberry Mental Hospital, later known as the | + | As the latter 19th century saw advancements in both medicine and psychiatry, Blockley’s mission gradually embraced that of a more conventional public hospital. A nursing school was opened at the site 1885 under the direction of Alice Fisher, replacing ad hoc patient nurses with a system of skilled nursing. In 1903, operations of the hospital were turned over to the newly created Bureau of Hospitals in the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In 1906, the insane were moved to the Byberry Mental Hospital, later known as the Philadelphia State Hospital. |
==Philadelphia General Hospital== | ==Philadelphia General Hospital== | ||
