Category Archives: Canton Asylum for Insane Indians

Canton Asylum for Insane Indians in South Dakota was also known as Hiawatha. It opened in December 1902 and closed in 1934 after charges of neglect and abuse were validated. Dr. Harry Reid Hummer and Oscar Sherman Gifford were its only two superintendents. Its only patients were Native Americans, typically called Indians. It was the only federal insane asylum created solely for an ethnic group and served only Indians.

Come and See Crazy People

4 Replies
Tourist Plate

Tourist Plate

In the 1800s and early 1900s, many insane asylums  (as well as prisons and orphanages) were treated as tourist attractions. This practice had started long ago, when visitors to Bedlam in London, paid a penny to see the lunatics there. They were allowed to bring in sticks to poke the inmates with, to stir them up.

The situation was not so bad in America by the 19th century, but many people were curious about insane asylums and wanted to see inside. Some visitors were  curious gawkers–the same kind of people who enjoyed freak shows at the circus–but many others were sincerely interested in seeing how patients were treated.

The pictures are of tourist items created for the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians.

Souvenir Spoon

Souvenir Spoon

Close-up of Spoon

Close-up of Spoon

Asylum’s Biggest Booster

Leave a reply
Oscar S. Gifford

Oscar S. Gifford

Oscar S. Gifford—Canton, South Dakota’s first mayor–was also a lawyer, merchant, surveyor, and sometimes justice of the peace. He was the kind of hustle and bustle “booster” that the city applauded. Gifford had been born in Watertown, New York in 1842, but moved to South Dakota’s Lincoln County in 1871.

Gifford was well-respected by the citizens of Canton. He had served as a private during the Civil War, studied law, taught school, and energetically looked after South Dakota’s interests as first a territorial delegate and later, the state’s first representative to Congress. In 1896 he had been nominated as the Republican candidate for governor.

When it came time for the Indian Bureau to appoint a superintendent to the Canton Asylum, Gifford seemed the obvious choice—never mind that he had no medical background. Whether it was a reward for backing Senator Pettigrew or whether no one who was actually qualified wanted the job, Gifford got it.

St. Elizabeths, A Government Hospital for the Insane

2 Replies
Center Building at Saint Elizabeths circa 1901-1932

Center Building at Saint Elizabeths circa 1901-1932

The U.S. government already operated an insane asylum, popularly called St. Elizabeths, in Washington, D.C. Its superintendent, W.W. Godding, suggested that any insane Indians be sent there for treatment.

However, South Dakota’s senator, Richard F. Pettigrew, saw a chance to grab both money and jobs for his constituency. He vigorously backed Indian agent Peter Couchman’s suggestion. Politics won out. Congress approved funds for the facility—which just so happened to land in South Dakota.

In the meantime, Pettigrew had drawn in another influential South Dakotan to help with the scheme. Oscar S. Gifford, the former mayor of Canton, was brought on board to handle the legal paperwork involved in buying 100 acres of land (at $30/acre) for the government’s new asylum. The site of the facility just happened to be near…Canton, South Dakota. Gifford, and practically the whole town, expected him to get the plum job of running the asylum after it was built.

Insanity Among the Indians

Leave a reply
ig Tobacco, A Dance Hall Chief, circa 1900

Big Tobacco, A Dance Hall Chief, circa 1900

The idea for the Canton  Asylum began as a simple suggestion by Indian agent Peter Couchman of the Cheyenne River Agency. In 1897, he wrote to the Indian Service about the unpleasant conditions insane Indians faced on reservations. Anyone suspected of insanity usually ended up in a jail or guardhouse because there were no appropriate facilities on site.

Most state institutions for the insane didn’t like to accept Indians because of citizenship issues and racial bias. Even when an asylum did accept a patient from a reservation, it charged the government what Couchman considered to be excessive fees.

So, Couchman asked what probably seemed to him a reasonable question: Might it be a good idea for the federal government to create an insane asylum just for Indians?