Dr. W. W. Godding, courtesy Library of Congress

Dr. William Whitney Godding was the second superintendent of St. Elizabeths, still called the Government Hospital for the Insane in 1877 when he took over from Dr. Nichols. The asylum had 700 patients at the time, far more than originally planned on. Godding accommodated this large number of patients by building 18 cottages for them, where chronically ill patients could live in more homelike settings.

Godding wrote nearly two dozen articles about mental illness, and served as president of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (AMSAII) from 1889- 1890.

In 1897, the Department of the Interior asked Godding his opinion about building a government hospital for insane Indians. Godding said that since he had only seven Indian patients at his own hospital, he didn’t think there was any need for a separate institution for them. Though he knew there might be a number of mild cases elsewhere, he couldn’t see expending money for a separate hospital and the upkeep for it, when the entire cost for taking care of the insane Indians at the Government Hospital only totaled $2,267.00.

Senator Pettigrew from South Dakota managed to push through the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians, though, at an initial cost of $45,000.

First Pathology Lab in a Mental Hospital, St. Elizabeths, 1884, courtesy National Institutes of Health

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