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

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|Title= Foxboro State Hospital
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|Title= St Elizabeths Hospital
|Image= 162610609_o.jpg
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|Image= St_Elizabeth_SH_Kirkbride.jpg
 
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|Body= The Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates was designed by architect Charles Brigham, and opened in 1889 to treat alcoholics. In 1905 the hospital began to treat psychiatric disorders, and by 1910 it was solely a psychiatric institution, and became known as Foxboro (or Foxborough) State Hospital. The hospital ceased most of it's operations in 1976, but the buildings have been used for other purposes such as file storage and haunted houses during the Halloween season. The layout of this institution was very unique; the original inebriate asylum consisted of a few isolated buildings that were later connected by very long hallways, which served as day rooms. Patient rooms were in wings that branched off to the sides, and the newest additions (circa 1950's) were dormitories that were covered in tile. Many cupolas adorn the roof, and the basement holds a surprisingly large eight body morgue. There are two cemeteries nearby holding around 1,100 patients with headstones marked with only a patient number and a grave number.
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|Body= In November of 1852 a tract of land overlooking the Anacostia River was purchased for $25,000 from Thomas Blagden. Construction began almost immediately on the center building, a red brick fortress designed in Gothic revival style by Thomas U. Walter, who also designed the dome of the Capital Building. The hospital was built following the Kirkbride Plan, most of the construction of the center building was done by slaves. It opened in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane. The Hospital's early mission, as defined by its founder, the leading mental health reformer Dorothea Dix, was to provide the "most humane care and enlightened curative treatment of the insane of the Army, Navy, and District of Columbia." During the Civil War, wounded soldiers treated here were reluctant to admit that they were in an insane asylum, and said they were at St. Elizabeth's, the colonial name of the land where the Hospital is located. Congress officially changed the Hospital's name to St. Elizabeth's in 1916. By the 1940s, the Hospital complex covering an area of over 300 acres. At its peak, 4,000 people worked and 7,000 patients lived there. It was the first and only federal mental facility with a national scope. The first appropriation towards building the Government Hospital for the Insane was of $100,000, and was made by Congress in 1852 for the purchase of land. The organic act creating the institution and outlining the duties of its officers and providing for the admission of various classes of insane patients was not approved until March 3, 1855. The hospital, however, had been opened for the reception of patients on January 15,1855.  [[St Elizabeths Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
The Foxboro State Hospital closed in 1976, however many parts of the building were put to re-use by various government entities. The hospital's Theatre was also home to the Foxboro Jaycee's haunted house one year. In 2004 the property was sold to a developer and early constrction began, and early in 2006 the buildings were almost completely prepared for either demolition or restoration. In July, 2006 a four-alarm fire ripped through a ward of the main hospital building. The fire was mostly contained to that one ward. By 2009 a large portion of the older buildings had been converted to condominiums & office space.  [[Foxboro State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
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Revision as of 05:37, 28 June 2020

Featured Article Of The Week

St Elizabeths Hospital


St Elizabeth SH Kirkbride.jpg

In November of 1852 a tract of land overlooking the Anacostia River was purchased for $25,000 from Thomas Blagden. Construction began almost immediately on the center building, a red brick fortress designed in Gothic revival style by Thomas U. Walter, who also designed the dome of the Capital Building. The hospital was built following the Kirkbride Plan, most of the construction of the center building was done by slaves. It opened in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane. The Hospital's early mission, as defined by its founder, the leading mental health reformer Dorothea Dix, was to provide the "most humane care and enlightened curative treatment of the insane of the Army, Navy, and District of Columbia." During the Civil War, wounded soldiers treated here were reluctant to admit that they were in an insane asylum, and said they were at St. Elizabeth's, the colonial name of the land where the Hospital is located. Congress officially changed the Hospital's name to St. Elizabeth's in 1916. By the 1940s, the Hospital complex covering an area of over 300 acres. At its peak, 4,000 people worked and 7,000 patients lived there. It was the first and only federal mental facility with a national scope. The first appropriation towards building the Government Hospital for the Insane was of $100,000, and was made by Congress in 1852 for the purchase of land. The organic act creating the institution and outlining the duties of its officers and providing for the admission of various classes of insane patients was not approved until March 3, 1855. The hospital, however, had been opened for the reception of patients on January 15,1855. Click here for more...