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

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|Title= St Elizabeths Hospital
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|Title= Big Spring State Hospital
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|Image= St_Elizabeth_SH_Kirkbride.jpg
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|Image= TXbigspringaerial.png
 
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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.
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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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The creation of the hospital was due very largely to the activity of Dorothea L. Dix. She drew up with her own pen the outlines of the organic act establishing the institution, and virtually named its first superintendent , Dr. C. H. Nicholas. During the latter part of her life Miss Dix spent much of her time at the hospital, where quarters were always reserved for her, and the little desk upon which she drew up the original act creating the hospital stands in the board room in the main building.   [[St Elizabeths Hospital|Click here for more...]]
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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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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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