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

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|Title= Longue Pointe Asylum
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|Title= Weston State Hospital
|Image= V11268.jpg
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|Image= Westsh.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
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|Body= Founded in 1873, Saint-Jean de Dieu Hospital was born from an agreement between the Government of Quebec and the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence, who were entrusted the task of clothing, lodging and caring of the mentally handicapped. Sister Thérèse de Jésus was the soul and director of this important healthcare facility in Quebec.
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|Body= This was West Virginia's first public institution. Its construction was begun by the State of Virginia before the separation of West Virginia from the mother state, the first appropriation having been made by the Legislature of Virginia, March 22, 1858. The institution was opened October 22, 1859, when nine patients were brought from Ohio, where they had been in temporary care awaiting the completion of the hospital. Dr. R. Hills, formerly of the Central Ohio Insane Asylum, was made superintendent and Dr. N. B. Barnes, assistant.
  
The Sisters of Providence already had a great deal of experience in working with mental patients. Mother Émilie-Gamelin took in a number of them at the Asile de la Providence, as early as 1845. In 1852, their Saint-Isidore farm was renovated to accommodate 17 patients. In 1863, an annex named Saint-Jean de Dieu was built and added to the Sister’s convent in the east end of Montreal.
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In the first years of its history the institution was encompassed with many difficulties. Not only were there financial troubles, but Confederate soldiers in a raid appropriated the blankets belonging to the patients, and in a second raid a ward was destroyed. The people of Weston very generously came to the rescue and contributed their own blankets to fill the temporary needs, public acknowledgment of which was made by the superintendent in his report. In 1868 the population of the hospital was 40; since that date there has been a continual increase in the number of inmates, and a corresponding increase in the appropriation for running expenses, until at the present time the population of the institution is 1023.
  
The construction of the Saint-Jean de Dieu Hospital, then known as the Longue Pointe Lunatic Asylum, would be done on this very site. In April 1874, the Sisters commissioned architect Benjamin Lamontagne to design and build the asylum, north of Notre-Dame St. It is interesting to know that Louis Riel was committed to the Asylum at Longue Pointe for a few months in 1876.
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The grounds belonging to the hospital contain about 335 acres, and front about 2000 feet on the West Fork River, opposite the town of Weston, and extend back to the north to a depth sufficient for this acreage. With the exception of the site on which the buildings are located, which extends back from the river about 800 feet, the land is very steep and entirely unsuitable for tillage. A very small portion of it is used for gardening, but in the main it is used for grazing.  [[Weston State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
In 1890 a fire that killed more than 80 people reduced a large part of the hospital to an empty shell. Wooden pavilions were quickly erected to accommodate the 1,200 patients. In 1888, more land was added which brought the property of the Sisters of Providence to a total of 800 acres. In 1896, flooding of the asylum caused a temporary relocation of the facility.  [[Longue Pointe Asylum|Click here for more...]]
 
 
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Revision as of 05:03, 15 December 2014

Featured Article Of The Week

Weston State Hospital


Westsh.jpg

This was West Virginia's first public institution. Its construction was begun by the State of Virginia before the separation of West Virginia from the mother state, the first appropriation having been made by the Legislature of Virginia, March 22, 1858. The institution was opened October 22, 1859, when nine patients were brought from Ohio, where they had been in temporary care awaiting the completion of the hospital. Dr. R. Hills, formerly of the Central Ohio Insane Asylum, was made superintendent and Dr. N. B. Barnes, assistant.

In the first years of its history the institution was encompassed with many difficulties. Not only were there financial troubles, but Confederate soldiers in a raid appropriated the blankets belonging to the patients, and in a second raid a ward was destroyed. The people of Weston very generously came to the rescue and contributed their own blankets to fill the temporary needs, public acknowledgment of which was made by the superintendent in his report. In 1868 the population of the hospital was 40; since that date there has been a continual increase in the number of inmates, and a corresponding increase in the appropriation for running expenses, until at the present time the population of the institution is 1023.

The grounds belonging to the hospital contain about 335 acres, and front about 2000 feet on the West Fork River, opposite the town of Weston, and extend back to the north to a depth sufficient for this acreage. With the exception of the site on which the buildings are located, which extends back from the river about 800 feet, the land is very steep and entirely unsuitable for tillage. A very small portion of it is used for gardening, but in the main it is used for grazing. Click here for more...