HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Utica Psychiatric Center, also known as Utica State Hospital, opened in Utica on January 16, 1843. It was
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
's first state-run facility designed to care for the mentally ill, and one of the first such institutions in the United States. It was originally called the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica. The
Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...
structure was designed by Captain William Clarke and its construction was funded by the state and by contributions from Utica residents. In 1977, the last patients were transferred to other care facilities and the hospital was closed. The hospital building is now used as a records archive for the
New York State Office of Mental Health New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
. It has been a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
since 1989. and   The building sits on the present-day campus of the Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center along with newer buildings, some of which are still in use for psychiatric and other medical care.


History

The Legislature authorized its establishment in 1836. The original plans for the hospital included four identical buildings, set at right angles to one another with a central courtyard. Due to a lack of funds, construction was halted after the first building was completed. This building (Old Main) stands over high, long, and nearly in depth. The six Greek style columns that decorate the front of Old Main stand at tall and each has an diameter. The hospital filled quickly and more beds were needed, so the building was enlarged by the addition of wings on either end. These wings opened in 1846, and in 1850, the accommodations were listed as: "380 single rooms for patients, 24 for their attendants, 20 dormitories each accommodating from 5 to 12 persons, 16 parlors or day rooms, 12 dining rooms, 24 bathing rooms, 24 closets and 24 water closets". The hospital's first director, Amariah Brigham, thought that mental illness was the result of a bad environment, so the facility provided patients with spacious rooms, good nutrition, as well as physical exercise and mental stimulus. He believed in "labor as the most essential of our curative means". Accordingly, patients were encouraged to participate in outdoor tasks, such as gardening, and handicrafts, such as needlework and carpentry. Brigham also introduced an annual fair at the hospital to display and sell items created by the patients. The first fair, in 1844, raised $200, which went toward an addition to the library, musical instruments, and a greenhouse. Some of the asylum inmates also printed a newspaper, called ''
The Opal ''The Opal'' (1851–1860) is a ten volume journal written, edited and printed by the patients of the Utica State Lunatic Asylum, circa 1851. On its more than 3,000 pages, writers talked of their experiences and world views, giving great insight ...
'' (10 volumes, 1851–1860), which contained articles, poems, and drawings produced by the patients. In 1852, Old Main's first floor stairway caught fire. Patients and staff were safely evacuated, but a firefighter and doctor were killed while trying to salvage items from the building. The entire center portion of the building was destroyed. Four days after the fire at Old Main, a barn on the asylum grounds caught fire. William Spiers, a convicted arsonist, former patient, and sporadic employee, was arrested after admitting to setting both fires because he was angry with his supervisor. A Secret Institution (1890), a 19th-century autobiographical narrative, describes Clarissa Caldwell Lathrop's institutionalization at the asylum for voicing suspicions that someone was trying to poison her.


''American Journal of Insanity''

In 1844, Brigham founded the first English-language journal devoted to the subject of mental illness, ''American Journal of Insanity''. Brigham was the editor-in-chief, and the journal was printed in the Utica State Hospital printing shop. After Brigham's death, the journal became the property of the hospital and in 1894, the American Medico-Psychological Association bought the journal for $994.50. The journal was later renamed the ''American Psychiatric Journal''.


Utica crib

Brigham disliked the then-current practice of using chains to restrain patients, and invented the "Utica crib" as an alternative. The Utica crib was an ordinary bed with a thick mattress on the bottom, slats on the sides, and a hinged top that could be locked from the outside. It was deep, long, and wide. Doctors used the Utica crib to control and calm patients who were out of control. While use of the Utica crib was widely criticized, some patients found it to have important therapeutic value. One patient who had slept in the Utica crib for several days commented that he had rested better and found it useful for "all crazy fellows as I, whose spirit is willing, but whose flesh is weak".Journal of Insanity
October 1864
In the '' Edinburgh Medical Journal'' (February 1878), Dr. Lindsay and other physicians at the Murray Royal Institution at Perth recommended the Utica crib. Lindsay stated that "the bed was practical and safe to patients." However, Dr. Hammond and Dr. Mycert of the Utica State Hospital attacked the Utica crib. Mycert stated that "the crib is at most barbarous and unscientific because there is already a tendency to determine the blood to the brain in excited forms of insanity which is released by the horizontal position in the crib and struggles the patient." Mycert also compared the Utica crib to a coffin. Hammond stated that sometimes patients died from being in the Utica crib. Some of these deaths occurred when attendants thought the patients were out of control when, in fact, they were having a heart attack, a stroke, or some other type of serious health problem. On January 18, 1887, with the help of George Alder Blumer, all Utica cribs were removed from the Utica State Hospital.


Notable people


Staff

* Edward Nathaniel Brush * John P. Gray


Patients

* William H. Christian (treated 1886–1887) * Clarissa Caldwell Lathrop (1880–1882) * James Bailey Silkman (1882) *
Gerrit Smith Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), also spelled Gerritt Smith, was an American social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist. Married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith was a candidate for P ...
(1860), treated with cannabis and morphine


Photos

Image:UticaStateHospital left December2007.jpg, Left side (East end) of Main Building Image:UticaStateHospital center December2007.jpg, Center of Main Building Image:UticaStateHospital right December2007.jpg, Right side (West end) of Main Building Image:Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House.jpg, Front of the Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House Image:Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House Colored.jpg, Front view of the Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House. Image:Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House - Rear Right.jpg, Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House - Rear Right Image:Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House Rear.jpg, The rear of the Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House. Image:Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House Being Demolished.jpg, Utica Psychiatric Center Doctors House being demolished during the summer of 2015.


References


External links


Utica State Psychiatric Hospital Photos Before Demolition of the WingsUtica State Psychiatric Hospital Photos During Demolition of the Wings
{{authority control Psychiatric hospitals in New York (state) National Historic Landmarks in New York (state) Psychiatric Center Government buildings completed in 1843 Hospital buildings completed in 1843 Greek Revival architecture in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Oneida County, New York 1843 establishments in New York (state) New York State Department of Mental Hygiene New York State Register of Historic Places in Oneida County