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

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|Title= Tacoma State Hospital
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|Title= Riverview Hospital
|Image= Western_State_Hospital,_1892.jpg
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|Image= coquit2.png
 
|Width= 150px
 
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|Body= In accordance with an act of the Territorial Legislature, entitled "An Act to Authorize the Purchase of the Government Buildings at Fort Steilacoom for an Insane Asylum," approved December 2. 1869, a Board of Commissioners, consisting of the Governor, Territorial Secretary and Territorial Auditor, purchased the buildings from the federal government on the 15th of January, 1870, for the sum of $850. Section 4 of this act provided that the buildings should be turned over to the commissioners for the care and custody of insane and idiotic persons, to be prepared and used by them as an insane asylum, at the expiration of the contract with Huntington & Sons on July 15, 1871.
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|Body= In 1872, Royal Hospital in Victoria was converted to British Columbia's first facility to house mentally ill patients. Due to overcrowding, Royal Hospital was closed and the patients moved to the new Provincial Asylum for the Insane in 1878. Again facing problems of overcrowding at the turn of the century, in 1904 the provincial government purchased 1,000 acres in then-rural Coquitlam for the construction of Riverview Hospital and the adjacent Colony Farm lands.
  
In the meantime a contract was made by the territorial authorities with Hill Harmon, of Olympia, to clothe and to keep the insane for a period of five years, dating from August 19, 1871, at 91 cents per diem. After the necessary alterations of the buildings to adapt them to the purpose intended had been made 21 patients were transferred from Monticello on August 19, 1871, and Fort Steilacoom was formally opened as an insane asylum. Dr. Stacy Hemenway was appointed by the commissioners as resident physician.
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Patients were originally housed in temporary buildings, and in 1913 the building that would eventually be called West Lawn began treating the 300 most seriously ill male patients. By this time, Colony Farm was producing over 700 tons of crops and 20,000 gallons of milk in a year, using mostly patient labor. British Columbia's first Provincial Botanist, John Davidson, established an arboretum, nursery and a botanical garden on the hospital lands, often with the assistance of patients as there was a belief in the therapeutic value.[3] The botanical garden was moved to the new University of British Columbia in 1916, but the arboretum and nursery remained.
  
From a report of the contractor to the Governor of Washington Territory, dated September 30, 1871, it was learned that the asylum building was 152 feet long and 54 feet wide, and was divided into two wards, one for males and one for females. The male ward was 96 feet long and 44 feet wide, containing a central hall and 20 rooms, 10 on each side. Under the same roof was a bathroom supplied with hot and cold water, a water closet and wardrobe. The central hall was 96 feet long and 14 feet wide, having one large window at each end and two skylights. On each side of this hall were 10 rooms, each 18 feet in length by 9 feet in width. These rooms, together with the central hall, accommodated about 40 patients. [[Tacoma State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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In 1924, the Acute Psychopathic Unit, later called Centre Lawn, opened. Then in 1930, the 675-bed Female Chronic Unit (later called East Lawn) opened. The first phase of what would eventually be called the Crease Clinic, the Veteran's Unit opened in 1934, with the second phase opened in 1949, giving Riverview its most iconic building. Finally in 1955, the Tuberculosis Unit (now called North Lawn) opened, marking the peak of patient residence. [[Riverview Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:33, 8 December 2019

Featured Article Of The Week

Riverview Hospital


coquit2.png

In 1872, Royal Hospital in Victoria was converted to British Columbia's first facility to house mentally ill patients. Due to overcrowding, Royal Hospital was closed and the patients moved to the new Provincial Asylum for the Insane in 1878. Again facing problems of overcrowding at the turn of the century, in 1904 the provincial government purchased 1,000 acres in then-rural Coquitlam for the construction of Riverview Hospital and the adjacent Colony Farm lands.

Patients were originally housed in temporary buildings, and in 1913 the building that would eventually be called West Lawn began treating the 300 most seriously ill male patients. By this time, Colony Farm was producing over 700 tons of crops and 20,000 gallons of milk in a year, using mostly patient labor. British Columbia's first Provincial Botanist, John Davidson, established an arboretum, nursery and a botanical garden on the hospital lands, often with the assistance of patients as there was a belief in the therapeutic value.[3] The botanical garden was moved to the new University of British Columbia in 1916, but the arboretum and nursery remained.

In 1924, the Acute Psychopathic Unit, later called Centre Lawn, opened. Then in 1930, the 675-bed Female Chronic Unit (later called East Lawn) opened. The first phase of what would eventually be called the Crease Clinic, the Veteran's Unit opened in 1934, with the second phase opened in 1949, giving Riverview its most iconic building. Finally in 1955, the Tuberculosis Unit (now called North Lawn) opened, marking the peak of patient residence. Click here for more...