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Featured Article Of The Week
Cherokee State Hospital
The Cherokee State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in Cherokee Iowa. It is currently the fourth and last institution to be built in Iowa. It is still in operation with a special treatment program for drug addicts and alcoholics. It is preserved to look like it did when it first opened. This hospital was the last of the four state mental hospitals to be built in Iowa and the only one where the main building, a connected complex in Kirkbride plan, was fully completed before the hospital was opened to patients. The architects were an Iowa firm, Josselyn and Taylor, and the overall form and massing of component portions of the building suggests a French chateau, while the small-scale decorative motifs are those of the Queen Anne Revival Style. The functional arrangements reflect a moderately conservative approach for the times in the care of mental illness.
The hospital population increased annually with a peak of 1,729 patients reached in December 1945. To accommodate this number, beds were placed in every hospital hall. Then, a statewide campaign was begun to send patients back to their own counties whenever possible The discovery of psychotropic drugs in the 1950s for mental health treatment and the establishment of community-based services mental health centers in the 1960s saw the high census numbers in Cherokee decline. By 2000 the average daily census for the facility approximates less than 50 with lengths of stays shortened to an average of 25 days. Click here for more...
