Tag Archives: Government Hospital for the Insane

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Dr. William A. White, Superintendent of St. Elizabeths, courtesy Library of Congress

Dr. William A. White, Superintendent of St. Elizabeths, courtesy Library of Congress

St. Elizabeths cannot really be compared to the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians. Except for the fact that both institutions were run by the federal government, they were as different as night and day. St. Elizabeths was a huge institution, with over 2,700 patients in 1909; it required its own power plant. The institution had almost ten times the number of cattle (50) as the Canton Asylum, and enough poultry to require a hennery.

In common with its sister asylum, St. Elizabeths was often overcrowded. Because its DC location was closer to the center of power, however, superintendents could more easily make their case for additional money and facilities. St. Elizabeths housed (for the most part) soldiers and sailors, who had more public sympathy than Canton’s Indians.

Government Hospital for the Insane

Government Hospital for the Insane

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A Female Crusader, Part Two

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After Dorothea Dix visited a jail in 1841 and discovered the appalling conditions that mentally ill people suffered there, she began to gather information to present to legislators. She visited every jail and poorhouse in Massachusetts (her home state) and compiled a graphic report. Dix described a woman who was tearing her skin off, bit by bit, with no one to stop her. She had seen a man confined to an outbuilding (presumably at a hospital) next to the “dead room” so that he saw only corpses. Others she had seen were locked into rooms without heat, daylight or fresh air.

She was immediately called a liar, but newspapers reprinted excerpts of her report. She persuaded a group of men to take up her cause, and they were able to persuade the legislature to appropriate more money for the state hospital for the insane.

During her lifetime, Dix played a direct role in founding 32 mental hospitals. One in particular, the Government Hospital for the Insane, (later named St. Elizabeths) provided “the most humane care and enlightened curative treatment of the insane of the Army, Navy, and the District of Columbia.”

From 43rd Congress, First Session, courtesy Library of Congress

From 43rd Congress, First Session, courtesy Library of Congress

One of St. Elizabeths’ doctors became superintendent of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians.

Men Working in Broom Factory at Oak Forest, IL Poorhouse, circa 1915, courtesy Library of Congress

Men Working in Broom Factory at Oak Forest, IL Poorhouse, circa 1915, courtesy Library of Congress

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