Tag Archives: Colorado Insane Asylum

Insanity on the Rise

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Government Statistics About Insanity

Because it was more cost-effective to house many patients rather than a few, insane asylums tended to grow larger and house more patients over time. Dr. Harry Hummer of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians felt his disadvantage in numbers very keenly. He strove continually to find ways to cut costs, and to increase his number of patients. The latter required an increased capacity for his institution, which Congress did not necessarily support. Hummer repeatedly made a case for more buildings, more farmland, and more patient beds.

Though no one ever conclusively settled the question of whether or not Indians had as much, more, or less insanity than whites, statistics about the growing number of insane were on Hummer’s side. The various states had compiled statistics on the number of insane for many years, and the rate per 100,000 rose steadily each decade of the census. In 1840, 50.7/100,000 of the population were reported as mentally ill, while 169.7/100,000 were reported so by 1890.

The number of insane in hospitals (all races) had risen to 252.8/100,000 by 1920, though the census also shows that Indian hospitalization was only 104.5/100,000. The figures for Native Americans may have been skewed due to a lack of access to mental health care, or lack of room at state mental institutions or at the Canton Asylum. The Native American population stood at 244,437 in 1920. Even with their remarkably low rate of hospitalization for insanity (it was 259.8 for whites) Hummer could have conservatively estimated the number of insane Indians to be around 250. In 1920, Hummer had only 86 patients.

Patient Beds in Hallway Due to Overcrowding, Colorado Insane Asylum

Patients Working in Fields at Western North Carolina Insane Asylum, courtesy Western Piedmont Community College

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Hiawatha Asylum

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Canton Asylum for Insane Indians

One institution that Canton’s “boosters” hoped would put the town on the map was the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, which was usually called Hiawatha or Hiawatha Asylum by locals. Large asylums for the mentally ill were still the norm across the country, and Hiawatha’s unique patient population seemed to promise renown. Alienists (mental health experts) tended to be very forceful and positive about their field of study, and were eager to add to their knowledge. Town leaders hoped that specialists would come to Canton to study the Indians there, or even conduct their own research.

The facility was smaller than most asylums, but still impressive. It was shaped like a cross, 184 feet long and 144 feet wide, with jasper granite foundations. The outside was of pressed brick with white stone trim on the windows and doors, and inside, a cement-floored basement ran across the entire floorprint. The building had over 100 light fixtures, as well as radiator heat and a modern sewage system. There were also tiled bathrooms and water closets which used range toilets. (This was a unified system which shared a common pipe–toilets flushed at intervals rather than after each use.) Hundreds of trees and bushes were planted on the facility’s acreage, and except for the seven-foot fence around the grounds, nothing indicated that it was a type of prison. Especially for a rural area, Canton’s asylum was a noteworthy structure.

One of the primary reasons the town fought the asylum’s closing was because of the blow it meant to Canton’s economy. During the Depression, the asylum was a reliable source of jobs, and could pay real money for the goods and services it procured. Except for a few local asylum opponents, no one wanted to see the institution shut down.

Center Building, St. Elizabeths, Another Government Insane Asylum

Colorado Insane Asylum, circa 1890

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Employee Grievances

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Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, 1870, Male Staff at Entrance, courtesy Brenner Collection, Brynmawr

Though it is easy to blame attendants for being frustrated and unkind to the patients in their care, attendants were often frustrated themselves. Mary J. Smith (see last post) told an investigator about her workday: “Her work in the morning is as follows, 6 patients to dress before breakfast–2 paralytics, 1 spastic deplegia, and three that are so crazy they do not know enough to put their clothes on; that she has to wait on tables then after breakfast gives medicine to from 6 to 12 patients, four she has to take to closets (bathroom)–that she has to make 11 beds herself.”

In addition to this daily morning routine, on Wednesday mornings, Smith had to scrub 5 small rooms, one large room, one large hall, three short halls, and a pair of steps. On Thursdays, she had to put the clothing from the laundry away. There were 28 patients in the female ward in 1908, and Smith had charge of 15 of them.

Though there could never be an excuse for mistreating patients, Smithwas undoubtedly harried and overburdened. It would have been tempting to just lock up patients so she could give her attention to some of her additional duties. One consequences of the inspection was that the asylum was authorized to add two attendant postions, one female and one male. Unfortunately, to do so, it had to abolish two laborer positions.

Buggy Used at the Colorado Insane Asylum, 1879-1899

Agnew State Insane Asylum (Santa Clara) after 1906 Earthquake

 

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