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

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|Title= Boston State Hospital
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|Title= Big Spring State Hospital
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|Body= The Boston State Hospital – originally called the Boston Lunatic Asylum – was founded in South Boston in 1839. By the 1880s, new ideas about the care of the mentally ill emphasized the importance of fresh air, hard work, and separation from the adverse influences (both social and environmental) of city life, an approach that was referred to as “moral treatment.” Thus, when the time came to move out of the old and overcrowded facilities in South Boston, the Asylum’s leaders looked to West Roxbury – at that time a semi-rural area that had only recently been incorporated into the city of Boston – as an appropriate setting for a new hospital.
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|Body= The 45th Texas Legislature authorized the construction of Big Spring State Hospital in 1937 to serve the people of the West Texas area. The city donated the 577 acres, which at the time was valued at $51,400 and philanthropist Dora Roberts guaranteed a permanent water supply. Governor James V Allred placed the facility in Big Spring because of the need for a psychiatric hospital in West Texas. Ground was broken in January 1938, and the hospital opened 18 months later in June 1939. Within six months, the hospital treated 402 patients, most of whom were transferred from other state facilities.
  
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Beginning in 1884, some Asylum residents were moved to the former almshouse at Austin Farm, just across Morton Street from the present Boston Nature Center, where the Harvard Commons development stands today. In 1892, looking for more room for both buildings and farmland, the City purchased the 35-acre Pierce Farm, along Walk Hill and Canterbury Streets – part of which land is now the western end of the BNC. A few years later, the City bought another parcel of land, adjoining Pierce Farm and Canterbury Street, which now includes much of the Clark Cooper Community Gardens and other areas in the central part of the BNC.
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The original eight buildings designated as the general hospital were the administration building, including professional and administrative staff living quarters; the employees building, which included housing for direct care and clerical staff; the men's receiving hospital; the women's receiving hospital; the psychiatric hospital; the laundry; the power house; and the supply building. A railroad spur was located west of the supply building in order for the transportation and delivery of hospital supplies.
  
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It was soon decided that Austin Farm would house women, while Pierce Farm became the “Department for Men” of the recently renamed Boston Insane Hospital. The new buildings at Pierce Farm, designed by city architect Edmund March Wheelwright, opened in 1895, and a few additional farm buildings were added over the following years.  [[Boston State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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Five additional buildings were constructed on campus within the next 10 years at a cost of $778,000. Improvements to the grounds and the addition of equipment brought the total hospital investment to $1,060,571. Today, the hospital physical plant includes 25 buildings.  [[Big Spring State Hospital|Click here for more...]]
 
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Revision as of 04:36, 28 May 2023

Featured Article Of The Week

Big Spring State Hospital


TXbigspringaerial.png

The 45th Texas Legislature authorized the construction of Big Spring State Hospital in 1937 to serve the people of the West Texas area. The city donated the 577 acres, which at the time was valued at $51,400 and philanthropist Dora Roberts guaranteed a permanent water supply. Governor James V Allred placed the facility in Big Spring because of the need for a psychiatric hospital in West Texas. Ground was broken in January 1938, and the hospital opened 18 months later in June 1939. Within six months, the hospital treated 402 patients, most of whom were transferred from other state facilities.

The original eight buildings designated as the general hospital were the administration building, including professional and administrative staff living quarters; the employees building, which included housing for direct care and clerical staff; the men's receiving hospital; the women's receiving hospital; the psychiatric hospital; the laundry; the power house; and the supply building. A railroad spur was located west of the supply building in order for the transportation and delivery of hospital supplies.

Five additional buildings were constructed on campus within the next 10 years at a cost of $778,000. Improvements to the grounds and the addition of equipment brought the total hospital investment to $1,060,571. Today, the hospital physical plant includes 25 buildings. Click here for more...

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