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

From Asylum Projects
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{FAformat
 
{{FAformat
−
|Title= Dixmont State Hospital
+
|Title= Bridgewater State Hospital
−
|Image= Dixmont_Vint_09.jpg
+
|Image= Bridgewater.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
|Width= 150px
−
|Body= The Western Pennsylvania Hospital was founded in Pittsburgh in 1848 as a general hospital that treated all types of illnesses and became the first institution in western Pennsylvania to offer treatment for the insane. When the Insane Department of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital was moved to a new building in Kilbuck Township outside of Pittsburgh in 1862 it was renamed the Western Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane at Dixmont to honor the memory of Dorothea Dix, an advocate for reforming the treatment of mental patients. The Dixmont Hospital was legally separated from the Western Pennsylvania Hospital in 1907 when it was individually incorporated as the Dixmont Hospital for the Insane. Supported by private contributions since 1852, it was primarily state appropriations that enabled the hospital to expand its facilities and care for an increasing number of mentally ill persons over the first nine decades of its existence. Despite receiving state appropriations, it nonetheless continued to operate as a private corporation until 1945 when it was taken over by the Department of Public Welfare. From that date, it operated under the name Dixmont State Hospital until it closed in July 1984.
+
|Body= This hospital has been used as a prison mental hospital for it's entire life. The controversial documentary "Titicut Follies" was filmed at this location as an expose on the treatment of the prisoners located there.
  
−
The Western Pennsylvania Hospital was one of the earlier asylums built on the Kirkbride plan, with three crooked wings stretching to each side of administration; one wing for male and the other for female patients. By the end of the 1800's, the resident population grew to over 1,200 and a nursing school was established in 1895. As with most asylums, Dixmont became overcrowded to the point that it was not accepting new admissions. During the Great Depression, the hospital tried to sustain itself by paying employees only with room and board, not salaries, and sold any crafts made by patients for extra income. By 1946, the state had to step in, and the institution became known as Dixmont State Hospital.  [[Dixmont State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
+
St 1866, c 198 established the State Workhouse at the State Almshouse at Bridgewater, like it under the Board of State Charities. The almshouse itself was abolished by St 1872, c 45. St 1879, c 291, which replaced the Board of State Charities with the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity, gave the workhouse its own board of trustees, replacing a board of inspectors; St 1884, c 297 replaced this by a Board of Trustees of the State Almshouse i.e., at Tewksbury and State Workhouse.
 +
 
 +
After a fire, St 1883, c 279 authorized removal of the workhouse to quarters at the State Reform School at Westborough; return to Bridgewater was authorized by Resolves 1884, c 76. St 1887, c 264 renamed the institution the State Farm.
 +
 
 +
The institution was placed successively under the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (St 1886, c 101, s 5) and the State Board of Charity (St 1898, c 433, s 24) --by 1918 its governing board was called the Board of Trustees of the State Infirmary and State Farm. St 1919, c 199 removed the State Farm from both boards, placing it under the Massachusetts Bureau of Prisons, replaced per St 1919, c 350, s 86 by the Dept. of Correction.  [[Bridgewater State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
}}
 
}}

Revision as of 04:06, 5 August 2013

Featured Article Of The Week

Bridgewater State Hospital


Bridgewater.jpg

This hospital has been used as a prison mental hospital for it's entire life. The controversial documentary "Titicut Follies" was filmed at this location as an expose on the treatment of the prisoners located there.

St 1866, c 198 established the State Workhouse at the State Almshouse at Bridgewater, like it under the Board of State Charities. The almshouse itself was abolished by St 1872, c 45. St 1879, c 291, which replaced the Board of State Charities with the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity, gave the workhouse its own board of trustees, replacing a board of inspectors; St 1884, c 297 replaced this by a Board of Trustees of the State Almshouse i.e., at Tewksbury and State Workhouse.

After a fire, St 1883, c 279 authorized removal of the workhouse to quarters at the State Reform School at Westborough; return to Bridgewater was authorized by Resolves 1884, c 76. St 1887, c 264 renamed the institution the State Farm.

The institution was placed successively under the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (St 1886, c 101, s 5) and the State Board of Charity (St 1898, c 433, s 24) --by 1918 its governing board was called the Board of Trustees of the State Infirmary and State Farm. St 1919, c 199 removed the State Farm from both boards, placing it under the Massachusetts Bureau of Prisons, replaced per St 1919, c 350, s 86 by the Dept. of Correction. Click here for more...

Retrieved from "http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php?title=Portal:Featured_Article_Of_The_Week&oldid=22693"