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

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|Title= Eastern State Hospital Lexington
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|Title= Kings Park State Hospital
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|Image= KPPH01.png
 
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|Body= On February 15, 1816, the Kentucky General Assembly passed an act establishing a public hospital in Fayette County. The act incorporated a group of citizens, the “Contributors of the Fayette Hospital,” who wished to erect a building at their own expense to serve as a hospital for the accommodation of “lunatics” as well as other “sick poor.” The act gave the Contributors the right to establish a committee, elect officers, raise money to purchase a piece of land in or near Lexington, and to contract for the construction of a building to serve as the hospital (An act for founding, 1816). The Contributors meet on March 1, 1816 and elected a building committee consisting of Andrew McCalla, Sterling Allen, Stephen Chipley, Thomas January,and Richard Higgins. McCalla was appointed chairman (Fayette Hospital, 1816). In an open letter in the Kentucky Reporter on April 17, 1816, the Committee presented their mission and asked for assistance. They noted that there were many “poor, disabled, and infirm members of society” without the aid of medicine who with the assistance that could be provided by a “Public Hospital,” might become useful to themselves, their families, and society. They also noted that “lunatics,” who have no “rich relatives” to care for them, “roam at large through the country...” and in many instances “endanger the lives of other members of society.” The best remedy, they suggested, was the erection of a public hospital. They argued that the hospital was not only their best chance at a cure but also a means by which physicians could acquire “superior skill” by treating them. Finally, they declared that “society itself would be made more secure against the wild and desperate actions of lunatics, if provision was made to contain them within its walls.” The Committee concluded the letter by requesting that “ALL” people of Kentucky contribute to the support of the hospital (To the people of Kentucky, 1816).
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|Body= Prior to the establishment of this institution in 1885 all of the insane of Kings County were treated in the local institution situated in the suburbs of Brooklyn and known as the Kings County Lunatic Asylum. The rapid growth of the general population of the county, due largely to an unprecedented immigration, produced a disproportionate increase in the number of insane in the county and added enormously to the serious overcrowding in the county asylum.
  
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Their early efforts must have been effective for not long after their incorporation, the Building Committee purchased the “Sinking Spring” property on which the present hospital now stands (Perrin 1882: 391). On June 30, 1817, the corner-stone of the “Fayette Hospital” building was laid in the presence of a large group of spectators. The oration was given by Henry Clay, U.S. Representative from Kentucky. In the corner-stone were deposited the newspapers of Lexington for that week, some silver and copper coins, two publications in favor of the institution. [[Eastern State Hospital Lexington|Click here for more...]]
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Although successive superintendents pleaded with the county authorities for additional buildings, no provision for relief was made.
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Finally, when conditions became intolerable, after patients had been crowded into the basements of the large asylum building and into an old frame building quite unfit for the purpose, public sentiment compelled action by the county authorities, and in 1885 about 850 acres of land were purchased at St. Johnland, 43 miles to the east, on Long Island, and a branch asylum was established.
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Temporary frame buildings were erected on the new site for the immediate reception of patients, and in the fall of 1885 55 patients, 32 men and 23 women, were transferred to the St. Johnland Farm.
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The new institution was established on the cottage plan. Sixteen frame buildings were to be erected to accommodate about 450 patients, and a laundry, heating plant, barns, etc., were also to be built. But progress in the erection of these buildings was very slow. In the spring of 1887 150 additional patients were received, making a total of 200, all being crowded into the three original temporary buildings. [[Kings Park State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:46, 5 January 2015

Featured Article Of The Week

Kings Park State Hospital


KPPH01.png

Prior to the establishment of this institution in 1885 all of the insane of Kings County were treated in the local institution situated in the suburbs of Brooklyn and known as the Kings County Lunatic Asylum. The rapid growth of the general population of the county, due largely to an unprecedented immigration, produced a disproportionate increase in the number of insane in the county and added enormously to the serious overcrowding in the county asylum.

Although successive superintendents pleaded with the county authorities for additional buildings, no provision for relief was made.

Finally, when conditions became intolerable, after patients had been crowded into the basements of the large asylum building and into an old frame building quite unfit for the purpose, public sentiment compelled action by the county authorities, and in 1885 about 850 acres of land were purchased at St. Johnland, 43 miles to the east, on Long Island, and a branch asylum was established.

Temporary frame buildings were erected on the new site for the immediate reception of patients, and in the fall of 1885 55 patients, 32 men and 23 women, were transferred to the St. Johnland Farm.

The new institution was established on the cottage plan. Sixteen frame buildings were to be erected to accommodate about 450 patients, and a laundry, heating plant, barns, etc., were also to be built. But progress in the erection of these buildings was very slow. In the spring of 1887 150 additional patients were received, making a total of 200, all being crowded into the three original temporary buildings. Click here for more...

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