Kirkbride Buildings - Terrell State Hospital

In 1881, overcrowding at the state asylum in Austin led to the call for an institution in northern Texas. The state Legislature passed a bill establishing the asylum in 1883, specifying that it be located north of the Texas and Pacific Railway tracks. A site one mile northeast of the town of Terrell was selected and construction of the hospital began. J. N. Preston & Sons were the architects.

When the hospital officially opened in 1885 as the North Texas Lunatic Asylum, only one half of each of the Kirkbride building's wings was complete. The hospital and its buildings underwent many changes as the patient population ballooned and more and more space was required. Many new structures and additions were built over the years.

In spite of an inpatient population decline in the last few decades, Terrell State Hospital continues to operate as a pyschiatric facility serving the northern part of Texas. The Kirkbride building no longer exists however. A fountain is all that remains of the original hospital construction.