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

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|Title= Eastern Washington State Hospital
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|Title= Elgin State Hospital
|Image= East_Washington_SH_PC_1909.jpg
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|Image= Elgin.jpg
 
|Width= 150px
 
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|Body= The great distance in transporting patients to the Western Hospital for the Insane at Fort Steilacoom, which is situated in the extreme western part of the state, led to the erection of the Eastern State Hospital.
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|Body= On December 28,1869, the Board of Trustees met to examine the nine plans that had been submitted from various architects for the new asylum. The Board had enlisted the aid of two prominent superintendents to act as advisers. One was Dr. Andrew McFarland, M.D., the Superintendent of the state hospital in Jacksonville. The other was Dr. Richard J. Patterson, M.D., former superintendent of state hospitals in Indianapolis, Indiana and Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Interestingly, the building design of the Jacksonville hospital was largely based on that of the Indiana State Hospital, and is an example of the increasingly common practice of copying designs from one hospital for use at another.
  
The first buildings were erected in 1890 and consisted of a central administration building, with a wing on each side and a rear wing for the kitchen, engine room and laundry. The entire plant was made of brick, with a granite foundation, lathed and plastered inside. Each wing was three stories high and accommodated 150 patients. The buildings were of the old Kirkbride plan. The building commissioners were D. M. Drumheller, B. B. Glasscock and Stanley Hallett. The first Board of Trustees, consisting of D. F. Percival, Dr. Wilson Lockhart and Charles McDouall, were appointed in 1890. In 1892 W. J. Dwyer was appointed in place of Dr. Wilson Lockhart, whose term had expired. This local board continued in office until 1897, when it was abolished and the State Board of Audit and Control assumed power.
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The original name of the Elgin Mental Health Facility (its current name) was The Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane. The doors opened in 1872, however, construction of additional buildings continued until 1874. A rumor circulated for year, and still exists that the State of Illinois approached the City of Elgin with plans to construct a mental institution and a college and offered Elgin one or the other. As the rumor goes, Elgin took the mental institution, De Kalb took Northern Illinois University. As Elgin Historian and celebrated Elgin History author, Bill Briska points out the rumor, "...is totally false" He goes on to state that, "The state hospital was founded in 1869 and the college in 1892. (there are) No connection between the events".  [[Elgin State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
In May, 1891, 20 patients were received from the Western Washington Hospital and in July, the same year, 102 more. These patients had been committed from counties east of the Cascade Mountains, the territory which thereafter was designated as the district especially belonging to this hospital. As the patient population quickly rose additional room became necessary. A second wing was erected for men in 1894. It was, like the two original wings, three stories high and accommodated 150 patients. While not fireproof, it was an improvement over the older wings, having all partitions made of brick and tile, with hard plaster finish. It had no rooms or dormitories in the front of the building, so the wards were exceedingly well lighted. The flooring was of maple and each ward had two fireplaces—one at each end.  [[Eastern Washington State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
 
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Revision as of 04:12, 3 July 2022

Featured Article Of The Week

Elgin State Hospital


Elgin.jpg

On December 28,1869, the Board of Trustees met to examine the nine plans that had been submitted from various architects for the new asylum. The Board had enlisted the aid of two prominent superintendents to act as advisers. One was Dr. Andrew McFarland, M.D., the Superintendent of the state hospital in Jacksonville. The other was Dr. Richard J. Patterson, M.D., former superintendent of state hospitals in Indianapolis, Indiana and Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Interestingly, the building design of the Jacksonville hospital was largely based on that of the Indiana State Hospital, and is an example of the increasingly common practice of copying designs from one hospital for use at another.

The original name of the Elgin Mental Health Facility (its current name) was The Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane. The doors opened in 1872, however, construction of additional buildings continued until 1874. A rumor circulated for year, and still exists that the State of Illinois approached the City of Elgin with plans to construct a mental institution and a college and offered Elgin one or the other. As the rumor goes, Elgin took the mental institution, De Kalb took Northern Illinois University. As Elgin Historian and celebrated Elgin History author, Bill Briska points out the rumor, "...is totally false" He goes on to state that, "The state hospital was founded in 1869 and the college in 1892. (there are) No connection between the events". Click here for more...