Editing Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital

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<blockquote>''Resolved, that in the opinion of this meeting it is expedient that the Lunatic department of the Pennsylvania Hospital should be removed from the City of Philadelphia to the country in its vicinity, provided that the removal can be effected upon such a plan as will promote the comfort and improve the health of the patients and admit of the superintendence and control essential to a good administration of the institution. Resolved, That the Managers of the Hospital be, and they are hereby requested to prepare and report to the Contributors at their next meeting a plan of removal agreeably to the preceding resolution; embracing in their report the location in point of distance from the City, the general structure of the buildings to be erected, the details of the organization for superintendence and control, the funds and resources of the Corporation available for this object, and the probable cost; with such facts and remarks as they may think it expedient to communicate for the information of the Contributors.''</blockquote>
 
<blockquote>''Resolved, that in the opinion of this meeting it is expedient that the Lunatic department of the Pennsylvania Hospital should be removed from the City of Philadelphia to the country in its vicinity, provided that the removal can be effected upon such a plan as will promote the comfort and improve the health of the patients and admit of the superintendence and control essential to a good administration of the institution. Resolved, That the Managers of the Hospital be, and they are hereby requested to prepare and report to the Contributors at their next meeting a plan of removal agreeably to the preceding resolution; embracing in their report the location in point of distance from the City, the general structure of the buildings to be erected, the details of the organization for superintendence and control, the funds and resources of the Corporation available for this object, and the probable cost; with such facts and remarks as they may think it expedient to communicate for the information of the Contributors.''</blockquote>
  
[[File:Construction.jpeg|300px|thumb|left|Construction of Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, circa 1840]]
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[[File:Construction.png|400px|thumb|right|Construction of Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, circa 1840]]
  
 
The Managers appointed an 'ad hoc' committee to respond to these resolutions and to report to the Board.  On August 4, 1835 the committee reported back to the Board. The members of the committee reported their preference for a new hospital for the insane inside the city limits, but because popular sway among the members of the board lead to adopting a resolution to locate the new hospital in a more rural atmosphere. The long debate over the location of a new hospital seemed finally concluded, but the issue of funding was still outstanding. The committee estimated that the cost of land, design, construction, and furnishings for a new hospital for the insane would be $203,000; that the annual operating expenses of the hospital would be around $25,000 per anum; and that the annual revenues from paying patients would be about $12,500. The interest on $200,000 in capital funds would be required to pay the remaining annual cost of $12,500.  The total estimated for construction would be $403,000, a sum the committee termed "immense." (roughly equivalent to 40 million USD in 2013).  
 
The Managers appointed an 'ad hoc' committee to respond to these resolutions and to report to the Board.  On August 4, 1835 the committee reported back to the Board. The members of the committee reported their preference for a new hospital for the insane inside the city limits, but because popular sway among the members of the board lead to adopting a resolution to locate the new hospital in a more rural atmosphere. The long debate over the location of a new hospital seemed finally concluded, but the issue of funding was still outstanding. The committee estimated that the cost of land, design, construction, and furnishings for a new hospital for the insane would be $203,000; that the annual operating expenses of the hospital would be around $25,000 per anum; and that the annual revenues from paying patients would be about $12,500. The interest on $200,000 in capital funds would be required to pay the remaining annual cost of $12,500.  The total estimated for construction would be $403,000, a sum the committee termed "immense." (roughly equivalent to 40 million USD in 2013).  
  
The hospital moved to purchase a 101-acre farm in West Philadelphia in 1835 from Matthew Arrison, a local merchant. In March of 1836 the Board of Managers selected an English architect, Isaac Holden, to design the new buildings. The cornerstone for this new facility was laid on July 26, 1836 on the corner of 44th and Market Streets, which would later become the Female Department of the hospital. The design of the new Hospital for the Insane followed certain fundamental decisions. First, the Board and its architect maintained the Haverford Avenue orientation of the country estate.  The entrance to the new hospital buildings remained on Haverford Avenue and the brick mansion at the top of the hill was not disturbed, as it would soon become the house of the hospital superintendent.  The new structures were sited behind the big house and towards the southeast end of the 101 acres.  Second, in order "to have control of all the springs in the neighborhood of the pump-house," the Board made two purchases of land, which together added approximately ten acres to the east end of the grounds. Third, they enclosed forty-one acres of the land, including the two new purchases, by building a large stone wall, 5,483 feet in length and 10½ feet high around the hospital's primary enclosure. In 1839, when the construction was only about half finished, Holden took ill and returned to England. Construction was completed from his original designs.
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The hospital moved to purchase a 101-acre farm in West Philadelphia in 1835 from Matthew Arrison, a local merchant. In March of 1836 the Board of Managers selected an English architect, Isaac Holden, to design the new buildings. The cornerstone for this new facility was laid on July 26, 1836 on the corner of 44th and Market Streets, which would later become the Female Department of the hospital. The design of the new Hospital for the Insane followed certain fundamental decisions. First, the Board and its architect maintained the Haverford Avenue orientation of the country estate.  The entrance to the new hospital buildings remained on Haverford Avenue and the brick mansion at the top of the hill was not disturbed, as it would soon become the house of the hospital superintendent.  The new structures were sited behind the big house and towards the southeast end of the 101 acres.  Second, in order "to have control of all the springs in the neighborhood of the pump-house," the Board made two purchases of land, which together added approximately ten acres to the east end of the grounds. Third, they enclosed forty-one acres of the land, including the two new purchases, by building a large stone wall, 5,483 feet in length and 10½ feet high around the hospital's primary enclosure. In 1839, when the construction was only about half finished, Holden took ill and returned to England.
  
The question of selecting an appropriate superintendent was complicated because of the absence of other large psychiatric facilities in the America at the time. Locally, only [[Friends Hospital]], then known at the Frankford Asylum, was operational in treating psychiatric disorders, and was only financially viable because of large donations offered from the Society of Friends. The Board of Manager voted on October 12, 1840 and elected to hire the thirty-one year old [[Alienist]] physician, Dr. [[Thomas Story Kirkbride]], as the head of the new hospital, which would open the following January. Dr. Kirkbride was Pennsylvania native, born in Morrisville, where his family resided, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School only a few years prior in 1832. Kirkbride  had served three years as a resident physician at [[Friends Hospital]] for the Insane in Frankford township, a rural setting about five miles northeast of the City of Philadelphia.  In 1835 he returned to Philadelphia and opened a general practice. Just before his appointment in 1839, he married the daughter of one of the former Managers of the [[Pennsylvania Hospital]]. He accepted the Board’s appointment and immediately took control of the new department.
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The question of selecting an appropriate superintendent was complicated because of the absence of other large psychiatric facilities in the America at the time. Locally, only [[Friends Hospital]], then known at the Frankford Asylum, was operational in treating psychiatric disorders, and was only financially viable because of large donations offered from the Society of Friends. The Board of Manager voted on October 12, 1840 and elected to hire the thirty-one year old [[Alienist]], Dr. [[Thomas Story Kirkbride]], as the head of the new hospital, which would open the following January. Dr. Kirkbride was born in Morrisville, where his family resided, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School only two years prior. He was at the time finishing his residency at the Frankford Asylum before his selection.
  
 
=== Under Dr. Kirkbride: 1840-1883 ===
 
=== Under Dr. Kirkbride: 1840-1883 ===

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