HISTORY PAGE 2| Danvers State Hospital | Danvers State Insane Asylum (2023)

eu.be built “on the ground”, although they are accessible at any time of the year

2.be built on land of at least 100 hectares

3.Space for a maximum of 250 patients

4.be constructed of stone or brick with a roof of slate or metal and be as fireproof as possible

5.are made up of 8 wards separated by sex and built according to different specifications in terms of size, location and material of the accommodation

6.be organized with wards flanking a central administration building

7.Put the most "excited" patients in the last ward or the outermost ward

8.ensure plenty of "pure fresh air"

Kirkbride's hospitals were intended to be monuments to the belief that most insane people are curable and that the hospital's function is therefore primarily curative rather than penal. This healing process should be strongly promoted by a pleasant environment, pure air and pure water. Mature Massachusetts examples of the Kirkbride plan exist in Danvers and Worcester.

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The immediate crisis that led to the construction of a mental hospital north of Boston was the impending closure of the South Boston municipal facility in the early 1870s. housed 1,300 patients in facilities designed for 1,000. another 1,200 were scattered in other less specialized institutions. That year, approval was granted for a "state psychiatric hospital" in Danvers. The aim was to primarily serve Essex County patients and accommodate a defection of at least 200 from South Boston.

Bitter controversies over the Danvers State Hospital building centered on its configuration, ornamentation, and cost. Construction began on May 1, 1874 and cost $1,464,940. 57. Many agreed that "Danvers was among the foremost in its arrangements for convenience in practical operation, its precautions to secure the purity of the atmosphere necessary for the perfection of sanitary conditions, and in its general adaptation to the intended purpose." They praised "the plan, the style, the architect and the rigor and persistence of the work already done".

In 1877 there was a cost overrun inquiry which inevitably raised questions about the style of the hospital, described by Bradlee as "Domestic Gothic". The commissioners defended their designs, which, when displayed at the Philadelphia International Exposition, received the only award given to that country for hospital designs for the mentally ill. Others sided with Senator Sanborn, who called it a "palace hospital at Danvers" and argued that "even some royal palaces are not as grand nor as architecturally pretentious as the hospital at Danvers." (Sanborn, E.F.; The Hospital Palace at Danvers; 1877). Pliny Earle, then superintendent of the State Lunatic Asylum in Northampton, "denounced the trend of excessive ornamentation in hospital architecture, preferring comfortable interiors to "ornate exteriors", suggesting that domes, turrets and turrets "were used at universities such as Harvard and Yale are very properly placed in New York, but they are hardly appropriate when they stand as memorials to the calamities and misery of men.” .)

The committee of inquiry concluded that a number of errors of assessment had been made. While hospital commissioners were "relieved" from the start as a reprimand, $150,000 was allocated to allow construction to be completed. The first patient was admitted on May 13, 1878. The provision of pure water, an important part of 19th century psychiatric therapy, was also the subject of contention during the construction of the hospital and in the early years. The nearby Ipswich River was tapped as a source early on. Eventually the City of Danvers, which had established its own water supply from Middleton Pond at Wills' Hill in 1874, agreed to meet the hospital's needs as well. In 1876, an agreement was reached whereby the city would build its own intermediate reservoir on the site to feed a gravity feed system through a series of ten 5,000-gallon tanks in the attic.

By the turn of the 20th century, Danvers State Hospital had outgrown its location and facilities. So in 1902 another 100 acres were purchased between the towns of Danvers and Middleton and a major building campaign was undertaken. Hospital expansions in the 20th century reflect not only the growth of the patient population, but also an increased emphasis on occupational therapy and current theories of decentralized care. Large barns (demolished) were built, as were new buildings for the men who helped the agricultural enterprise. Grove Hall and Farm Halland for Women with Chronic Patients (Middleton Colony 1903). In fact, in the very first year of operation, when the floor plan was drawn up, there were already roads, fences, a pigsty, a barn, a shed for wagons, manure and an apple orchard. After just the second, 50 wooden strings and 10,386 pounds. of fresh pork were carried out. The farm continued to grow and prosper and soon became a famous model. The Danvers onion, sourced locally by the Gregory Seed Co., was among the many vegetables grown. Elaborate pleasure gardens were created adjacent to the Kirkbride complex to complement recreational therapy programs. In fact, Danvers State Hospital was so remarkable that as early as 1880 it attracted 12,000 visitors a year. In addition to visiting patients, they brought books, magazines, and flowers and held religious services. In this way, a pattern of community involvement was established for which the hospital later became known.

As originally stipulated, Danvers Hospital would be managed by a resident superintendent appointed by an unpaid board of trustees elected by the governor. Central authority rested with the State Board of Charities (after 1879 - State Board of Health, Madness and Charity). In 1898, the leadership of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts increased radically with information from the State Board of Insanity, the first in the United States. Reference legislation:

eu.took the poor out of asylums and placed them under state control.

2.Occupational therapy and social services introduced.

3.emphasized mental hygiene and called for the professional training of nurses.

Danvers State Hospital became a leader in implementing these progressive and humanitarian principles, becoming one of "the most progressive institutions of its kind in the country, providing all practical means for the intelligent treatment of insanity as a disease". (Frank E. Moynaham (Editor), Danvers, Massachusetts (Danvers: Danvers Mirror, 1899) Danvers State made extensive use of occupational therapy early on. In addition to working on the farm and in the greenhouses, patients repaired facilities (such as how to the 1912 reservoir), dug tunnels (like the 1913 one for the nurses' house) and built small buildings (like the 1917 slaughterhouse, which was built with concrete blocks made by patients), also made shoes and participated in other trades and Montessori kindergarten exercises were sold to the public and displayed (along with presentations on the hospital's latest therapeutic techniques) at expositions such as the Boston Mechanics Hall Textile Show (1916) and Stoneham's (1919), representing the thinking more progressive contemporary (despite epidemics such as the great dysentery outbreak of 1908, which killed 36 people) The main components of the program were recreational therapy (garden s, etc.) f fresh air provided by an advanced ventilation system and especially hydrotherapy. It was believed that the use of water baths to improve the brain's congested condition would allow for weaning from irritating bondage and depressant medications, and the Department of Advanced Pathology supported the hygiene effort.

Danvers State Hospital founded the second nursing school in Massachusetts (1889) and the second nursing home in the state (Gray Gables - 1898). It had already pioneered being the first psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts to employ a female doctor (1879). In the late 1920s, two large nursing homes were built on the property, one for nurses and one for men.

The hospital has been a leader in community engagement since its inception. As early as 1907, the Superintendent advocated a preventive mental health program. In 1909, the Danvers Series was created to share the hospital's research. By 1912, there was an active community mental health program. "From this beginning grew the Massachusetts plan, in which the state hospital will be considered the center of mental hygiene and psychiatric activities throughout the district." Around the same time the Massachusetts Plan was popularized, in 1938, the current Department of Mental Health was established. He succeeded the Commission on Mental Illness that replaced the State Board of Insanity in 1916.