September 16th, 2008
Rummaging around online as I do all too often, I’ve come across a few famous names in connection with different Kirkbride hospitals—as patients I mean. I thought it would be interesting to start a list of them. Not only will it shed a little light on their personal stories, but it also shows mental illness doesn’t necessarily prevent one from being brilliant and/or functional. It also helps humanize the mostly anonymous group often referred to simply as “patients”. (more…)
September 13th, 2008
Forum member Swansod made a post today about a small treasure trove of newspaper clippings he found while researching Worcester State Hospital. The clippings are from the 1930s, ’60s and ’90s. You can see reproductions on Swansod’s Zenfolio pages: WSH Related. (Hint: click on a thumbnail, then hover your mouse cursor over the larger version to get the download link. Download the file for a more legible version.)
Some high points from the articles include a map identifying each part of the Kirkbride (pictured above), mention of some films made by superintendent Dr William Bryan (which I’m trying to find more about), descriptions of various renovations over the years, LSD experiments, pictures of the hospital’s operating room, and information about the first phase of demolition which happened shortly after the Kirkbride fire in 1991.
September 10th, 2008
Image courtesy of the Oregon State Library
The upcoming tour of Oregon State Hospital’s historic J-Building has turned out to be more popular than it’s organizers anticipated: State Hospital Public Tour a Hot Ticket. 210 people have already signed up for the tour and a number of registrants had to be placed on a waiting list. If enough people continue to sign up, the state’s Department of Human Services will consider holding another tour. (more…)
September 8th, 2008
Our little paper, gotten up for the benefit of the patients of the Alabama Insane Hospital and to give the patrons of the institution an insight into some details of its practical operations, is printed on quarto Novelty Press, without expense to the State—the whole labor of type-setting and putting to press being performed by the patients, or by employees of the Hospital in intervals of leisure from their regular duties…
That’s how The Meteor—a newspaper written and published by Bryce Hospital’s patients—describes itself in its inaugural issue published in 1872. The Alabama Department of Archives and History has put eleven issues of The Meteor online in PDF format (note that at the time of this writing the link for the second issue isn’t working). While not quite the juicy rag you might hope for, the paper’s articles do offer some glimpses of life at the hospital as well as into the minds of the patients.
My favorite part is from the very first issue where one patient compares Alabama’s hospital for the insane with its neighbor the state university by saying, “The inmates of the University come to acquire ideas. We to get rid of them.” (more…)
September 3rd, 2008
Continuing a theme from my last post, I have it from a good authority that the Kirkbride building in Saint Peter, Minnesota is still partially standing. I had it down in the demolished column, but it turns out I was wrong once again! I’ve updated the list of Kirkbride buildings accordingly. Sorry about that…
The administration center is what remains. The wings were torn down in the 1960s and 70s. I haven’t seen it for myself yet (obviously), but I’m told there’s a museum there which can be visited by appointment. The hospital itself is still active, so I recommend making that appointment before going to take a look. Call 507-931-7182 for more information. (more…)
August 27th, 2008
A few weeks ago, one Jennifer Shipp emailed me pictures of Anna State Hospital (now Choate Mental Health Center) in Anna, Illinois. I was surprised to see that there’s actually a bit of its Kirkbride building left. I thought it had been completely torn down, but I was wrong. I apologize for misleading anyone regarding the status of this Kirkbride and have dutifully updated the Kirkbride lists.
As you can see from the pictures below, two stories of the administration center and a piece of wing off either side remain. I was told a fire (one of many in this hospital’s history) destroyed the upper floors. It’s sad to see the building so diminished, with only faint hints at its former grandeur. But I guess it’s better than nothing.
August 25th, 2008
As a follow up to my last post about Oregon State Hospital, I thought I’d refer you to this story about one person’s personal connection to the Library of Dust.
Grandpa Was One of 3,500 Who Didn’t Fly over the Cuckoo’s Nest
While the story itself is interesting, I also bring it up because I think it’s important to connect actual, personal stories about these places with the more abstract discussions about architecture and general history that usually go on here. A little while back the daughter of a former clinical director of Columbus State Hospital wrote to me and shared her memories of the hospital. It gave me the idea of making KirkbrideBuildings.com something more than a collection of pictures and brief factual histories, and I’ve been trying to collect more personal anecdotes and memories from other people. History is a lot more than just a series of dates and names. Unfortunately, it’s been slow going so far. But M-Explorer over at Asylum Projects has had the same idea and, although the idea hasn’t taken off yet and there are still some related issues to work out, I’m hoping that this will eventually take web sites like ours to a new level of documentation. It seems like a logical next step.
And in case you’ve somehow missed it, a great example of this kind of documentation exists on John Gray’s Danvers State Insane Asylum. His Former DSH Employee Interview is a great read. Check it out if you haven’t already.
August 19th, 2008
As a result of the site’s 15 minutes of fame a couple weeks ago, I got a few emails about Oregon State Hospital. Each made a case for including the Oregon State Hospital “J Building” (soon to be “The Kirkbride U“) in my list of Kirkbrides. They were pretty convincing I have to say. Apparently the building was originally designed according to Kirkbride’s specifications, but when it came time to add on additional wards, real estate issues prevented the wings from being extended in the normal fashion. Instead, they were extended back at a right angle to the original building’s main axis.
After hearing the evidence from multiple sources, I’ve decided to finally consider the building a Kirkbride. I’m a little worried that adding it to the list will open the door to other variants and ugly cousins of the Kirkbride plan, but we’ll see. (Just to be clear, I don’t mean to say that OSH is ugly:) I also got a bunch of messages about other possible Kirkbride buildings not included in the list. Some people were obviously just mistaken, but a couple submitted promising candidates. I’ll keep you posted if anything interesting turns up. (more…)
August 14th, 2008
On Tuesday there was a public meeting concerning efforts to preserve the Buffalo State Hospital Kirkbride. At the meeting, the Richardson Center Corporation revealed their Historic Structures Report (available for download on their documents page). The report is a beautifully comprehensive collection of history and images of the hospital buildings, and you should definitely check it out.
I haven’t digested the whole report yet, but the part I find most interesting so far is the description of the hospital’s construction, development and eventual downsizing which begins on page 62. Included are maps of the hospital campus during different time periods, as well as photos of the buildings from over the years. Especially striking is an old photo from about 1880 of the unfinished Kirkbride (page 70). (more…)
August 12th, 2008
If you’ve been following Danvers State Hospital news for a few years you’ll probably remember that John Archer is building a DSH inspired addition to his home. A couple weeks ago, John Gray sent me the above photo of the addition. Obviously it’s not finished yet, but it’s getting there.
Mr. Archer probably did as much (if not lots more) than anyone in the fight to preserve the Danvers Kirkbride in its entirety. And even though I have to admit I’m a little disappointed in how the addition looks, it’s great to see that he’s following through in creating this tribute to the Kirkbride. I guess I imagined something more along the lines of a direct copy of one of the Kirkbride’s wing sections, but such a large and exact reproduction would have been way too expensive I’m sure. There’s also the fact that the addition had to harmonize at least a little with Mr. Archer’s existing house. (more…)
