- Luce County -

Upper Peninsula Asylum for the Insane

This institution was established under Act No. 210, Public Acts of 1893. In April, 1893, the state legislature directed the State Board of Corrections and Charities to select a site, of not less than 400 acres, for an asylum in the Upper Peninsula and took up the appropriation of $75,000 for the site and construction. They also made an appropriation for an additional $37,500 for the year 1894. It was further directed that the site be located "in an easily accessible part of the Upper Peninsula." With the latter direction in mind one would naturally expect Marquette county, the largest and most populated county in the Upper Peninsula, to be chosen as the location for the new asylum. If not Marquette then at least one of the other counties found near the middle of the of the Upper Peninsula. The residents of these counties were outraged and vocal in their protests when it was announced that the new asylum would be erected at Newberry, far to the east of the most heavily populated places. An editorial in the Marquette Mining Journal, and reprinted in the Detroit Free Press, stated that "Our people are incensed beyond measure over the indefensible action of the locating board." The editorial further pointed out the business relationship between United States Senator James McMillan and former congressman John Stoughton Newberry. The pair were, respectively, president and vice-president of the Vulcan Furnace Company, later (1888) the Newberry Furnace Company, at Newberry.

Despite the protests and cries of outrage from surrounding counties the Upper Peninsula Aslum for the Insane opened its doors the first week of November, 1895, on 560 acres land donated by the Peninsula Land Company and the citizens of Luce county. The asylum was built on the "Cottage Plan" that became popular towards the end of the 19th century. The appropriation of 1893 included funds for only two cottages and one industrial building. When fifty patients arrived from Traverse City they half filled the asylum which, at that time, had only a capacity of 100. Within a few weeks the asylum was filled to capacity. Overcrowding continued to plague the asylum through the years, as it did with most other institutions of its kind. In 1912, with no new buildings having been erected for three years, and 840 patients in residence, the asylum was forced to convert a sitting room into a bedroom and additional cots were placed in hallways. By 1940 the property covered 900 acres and, with 20 cottages and a receiving hospital was valued at more than $1.6 million.

In July, 1992, the Newberry Regional Psychiatric Hospital was closed as part of a national wave to de-institutionalize patients in the facility.

Reports &c.
(for new articles see News