I received an email this morning notifying me that Department of Public Welfare may be considering closing the 97 year old Allentown State Hospital. The closure is being met with a good bit of resistance. Below are links to news articles on the closure, I will add new links as I find them. Should I find out any more information I will also post it here. Please feel free to leave a comment or email me if you come across any new information on the Allentown closure.
For those that may not be aware, the Fox series 'House' season 6 premier aired last week and it featured real shots of the exterior of the Greystone Park State Hospital in New Jersey. Interior scenes of the 2 hour premier episode were filmed on a sound stage that was designed after the interior of the actual hospital. Whether you are a fan of House or not, I recommend watching the 2 hour episode. I personally had never seen more than 10 minutes of the series before watching it. I originally wanted to see it just to see Greystone, but I ended up actually really liking the characters. You can see the episode online at Hulu.com for free. For those that may be able to shed some light on how accurately the show represented present day state hospitals, please feel free to comment.
Be sure to check out my newest website dedicated to the third state hospital in Pennsylvania, Danville State Hospital. Back in early June I started work on what would become my second website dedicated to a PA state hospital. The website follows a similar setup to City on the Hill and is full of information and photos of the hospital. Click here to visit the website.
This past Sunday I visited the campus for my fourth time to take some photos for a new section of the website I'm working on. While I was there I noticed something that, honestly, I'm a bit ashamed of not ever noticing during any of my past visits.
Located at the left rear corner of the Administration Building is this display. The stone is the original cornerstone from the Main Building that was built in 1848. I'm curious as to how the cornerstone got to where it is now. In 1950, during the construction of the Admissions Building debris from the Main Building was unearthed. I wonder if the stone was found among the debris, or if it was saved when the building was demolished around 1900. Either way, this is the only remaining piece of the Main Building (that I know of), and I'm grateful to whoever decided to put it on display.
I am currently finishing up the first draft of a brand new website dedicated to the Danville State Hospital. I had the wonderful opportunity to visit this beautiful facility not too long ago and have been hard at work ever since with the new website. The fact that Danville is still an active mental institution has made it a bit more difficult to find good information and photos, but despite that I hope to have the new website ready to go live by the end of July. In the mean time, if you or someone you know has any stories, information, photos, or postcards of Danville that you would like to contribute to the new website please email me or reply to this blog post. Also, if anyone knows of any nicknames that Danville had through the years please let me know.
Last month I purchased a book which had the reports of all public institutions in PA from 1875. I finally had a chance to type up a quick bunch of facts and notes from the Harrisburg State Hospital report. I will add this information to the appropriate sections of the website in the coming weeks, but I though I would also post it here for everyone to read.
Report date: April 29, 1875
-The hospital was full to capacity, 400 inmates. Because of the crowded conditions patients were not able to be properly assigned to wards according to the severity of their conditions.
-Wards were not large, but average in size. Housing 28 patients each. Crowed conditions were in part due to the admission of large numbers of inmates from county alms houses.
-The new north wing at Danville will help alleviate some of the crowding
-The hospital had an improved appearance, mostly due to repairs and paint work.
-Gas is now being produced on the hospital grounds.
-Wards were well lighted and warm.
-When compared to new hospital built following the same plan (Danville and Warren), the hospital seemed to be somewhat defective. Further repairs are still needed on the building.
-Furniture needed to be overhauled and repaired.
-Clothing needed to be supplied more liberally, especially for public patients.
-Patient rooms in the east wing were in need of thorough cleaning and refreshing. The west wing had already been cleaned.
-Patient Stats (hospital total): 228 male, 172 female. 219 private (supported by family), 197 public (supported by the state), year average 398. Average weekly cost per patient $5.21.
-Hospital costs for 1875: Loans & Debts $40,000 / Improvements & Repairs $10,000 / Purchase of additional land $7,288 / Total yearly spending $57,288
-Land total in 1875 was 131 acres. Estimated value including buildings was $432,750
-Attendants employed in 1875 was 45 (1 to every 8.8 patients) / Wages paid to those attendants was $10,152.88
-Employees employed in 1875 was 38 / Wages paid to those employees was $11,728.22
Stats for admitted patients in 1875 (not total hospital stats.)
178 total admissions for 1875
90 patients / 50.56% were married
111 patients / 62.36% were admitted by friends
67 patients / 37.64% were admitted by public authorities. (of these 37 were by directors of poor and 30 were by court order)
136 patients / 76.40% were born in America
42 patients / 23.59% were foreigners
106 patients / 59.55% were supported by self or by friends
72 patients / 40.45% were supports by public authorities
The majority of admissions in 1875 were between the ages of 20 and 30
Causes of patient condition (as assigned by the admitting persons): 23 ill health, 3 over exertion, 8 epilepsy, 3 intemperance, 6 puerperal, 1 loss of sleep, 3 disease of the brain, 1 disordered menstruation, 2 head injury, 4 masturbation, 2 sun stroke, 2 exposure, 10 domestic trouble, 1 fright, 1 anxiety, 33 trouble, 1 disappointment.
142 patients were discharged in 1875, of these: 36 were restored, 28 were improved, 43 were stationary, 35 died.
-The library contained 1,000 books of general subjects. Patients generally preferred newspapers and periodicals.
-New amusements consisted of the use of magic lanterns, readings, philosophical experiments,
-Hospital improvements: Now lighted by gas which is manufactured on the grounds, this gas is also of better quality than that which was previously provided by the city of Harrisburg. Other general repairs on the building, which according to the then superintendent John Curwen, is a cheap and defective building.
Even though my website is dedicated to Harrisburg State Hospital, I do have an interest in all state hospitals and I closely follow other websites and forums dedicated to other hospitals. Recently over at Kirkbridebuildings.com a former patient of Traverse City State Hospital has taken the time to write out two pages worth of his experiences at the hospital as a child. What he has shared is a mix of good times and bad, but it really brings some reality to what went on in some of these hospitals back in the day. He has also used the forum to reconnect with a few other patients. If you have the time, I recommend reading his posts. Read the posts here.
Today I received my most recent hospital related purchase. A very old book titled the "Penna Report of the Board of Public Charities 1875" It contains 549 pages of statistics and reports on all public state run institutions in PA in 1875. Just taking a quick glance through it when I got home from work, I already found some interesting stuff on Harrisburg State Hospital. Once I have time to sit down and thoroughly read through the state hospital sections I will update the site with any new information that I find.
I was taking a look around the internet this evening for photos and information on the recent movie "Another Harvest Moon" that was just filmed at the hospital. I still can't find a confirmed release date, but the official movie website does have some nice photos. I've been trying to figure out what building the movie was filmed in, and the only one I have been in that comes close to the photos below is building #16 the Hospital for Physically Ill, though I could be wrong depending on how much work the movie crew did on the building. If anyone knows for sure what building the filming took place in please let me know.
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