Editing Central Louisiana State Hospital

{{infobox institution
| name = Central Louisiana State Hospital
| image = 
| image_size = 250px
| alt = 
| caption = 
| established = 1902
| construction_began = 
| construction_ended =
| opened = 1906
| closed =
| demolished =
| current_status = [[Active Institution|Active]]
| building_style = [[Cottage Planned Institutions|Cottage Plan]]
| architect(s) =
| location =
| architecture_style =
| peak_patient_population = 3,128 in 1959 
| alternate_names =
}}

==History==
In 1902, the Louisiana Legislature authorized an establishment to house and treat 
the mentally ill of our state (Act 92).  The facility operated under several names 
since its opening on 6 January 1906, but is currently known as Central Louisiana 
State Hospital (1992).

One provision of the original legislation required the hospital board to furnish 
the legislature at each session a detailed report of the annual receipts and 
expenditures, a statistical breakdown of new and current enrollment, and a list 
of those deceased during the previous period.  The first superintendent, Dr. 
George A.B. Hays, immediately set up a morgue and selected a site for a hospital 
cemetery in order to comply with these requirements.

Given the social conditions of the times, the stigma of mental illness, plus the 
difficulty of contacting relatives and arranging transportation of the bodies, it 
was not surprising that many of the deceased patients were buried on the hospital 
grounds in the cemetery.  Until such time as the hospital could obtain the services 
of a Chaplin, the superintendent or some of the staff physicians handled the burial 
services, using the simple and beautiful service of the Methodist Church.

These early funeral services were handled entirely by the hospital, with the body 
being transported to the gravesite in a wheelbarrow until 1933 when a hand-drawn 
hearse was constructed.  This hearse was used until 1950, and was pushed by 
pallbearers to the gravesite.  Deceased female patients were draped in pink or 
blue shrouds made by the workers in the sewing room, and the carpenter shop probably 
furnished coffins (although this is not reflected in their individual reports).

Hospital records indicate there are approximately 3,000 people buried in this 
cemetery, and it was last used in June 1985

A large wooden cross, constructed in the hospital's carpenter shop, was placed 
on the hill in the early 1960's.  A large white solid concrete cross has since 
replaced it.  Hospital workers poured a large concrete slab near the street for 
the placing of grave markers by relatives of the deceased.  (In October 1992, 
only two names were on the slab, but fresh flowers had been placed there recently.) 


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[[Category:Active Institution]]
[[Category:Cottage Plan]]
[[Category:Louisiana]]
[[Category:Institution With A Cemetery]]