- Columbus State Hospital -
Franklin County, Ohio
The "Lunatic Asylum of Ohio"
was organized by Act of the Thirty-fourth General Assembly, passed March 5, 1835, sixty-two years ago, and Samuel Parsons, William M. Awl and Samuel F.
MacCracken were appointed Directors.
These Directors selected a tract of land about one mile east and north of the State House, in Columbus, comprising thirty acres. This tract fronted south on what is now East Broad street, and the western boundary was near what is now Washington avenue.
During the next three years they erected a building on these grounds, at a cost of about sixty-one thousand ($61,000) dollars.
The institution accommodated one hundred and twenty patients, and was the first institution for the treatment of the insane organized west of the Alleghenies. A very fair representation of the building is given on the second page, which is a copy of a painting made by an inmate of the asylum, and the original of which is still in the possession of the present Hospital.
On May 21, 1838, William M. Awl, M.D., of Columbus, was elected Medical Superintendent by the Trustees, and the first patient was received on November 30 of that year.
The building was two hundred and ninety-five feet in length and contained one hundred and fifty-three single rooms. The Directors apologized for the apparently extragant size by saying that it would be required in a few years. Yet it was the only asylum the state then had. Now -- 1900-1-2 -- the state has accommodations for more than seven thousand five hundred patients in the several "State Hospitals" at Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Longview, Massillon and Toledo, and every institution is crowded to its full capacity.
Dr. Awl was in charge as Superintendent until 1850, a period of twelve years, when he was succeeded by Samuel H. Smith, M.D. He was succeeded in 1852 by E. Kendrick, M.D., and he by George E. Eels, M.D., in June 1854. On August 1, 1855, Dr. Richard Gundry, who later became so prominent in the care of the insane in Ohio and the United States, was appointed assistant Physician.
In July, 1856, Dr. R. Hills, of Delaware, was appointed Superintendent. He held the position for several years, and was succeeded by Dr. William L. Peck.
On the evening of November 18, 1868, the asylum caught fire, and was almost wholly destroyed. There were three hundred and fourteen patients in the asylum, and six were suffocated by the smoke before they could be rescued. The others were removed to the asylums at Cleveland, Dayton and Cincinnati, which had been built since this one was organized.
On April 23, 1869, an Act was passed by Legislature authorizing the re-building of the asylum on the old grounds, and contracts were let September 23, 1869, and work was begun on the foundation October 24th of that year. Winter soon stopped the work, however, and during the ensuing session of the Legislature, on the 18th of April, 1870, a bill was passed authorizing the sale of the old tract and the purchase of a new site to contain three hundred acres of land.
Governor R. B. Hayes, State Treasurer S. S. Warner, and Attorney General F. B. Pond were appointed a Commission to sell the old site and to purchase a new one. They were required to sell the old site at a price of not less than $200,000, and to purchase a new site of not less than three hundred acres at a cost of not to exceed $100,000.
The Commission reported in favor of the purchase of three hundred acres from Wm. S. Sullivant, on the high lands west of Columbus and across the Scioto valley, paying therefor two hundred and fifty dollars per acres.
The Trustees took charge of this tract, which is the present site of the Hospital, on May 5, 1870. The site of the old building was determined upon, work was begun under the old contracts, which had been transferred to the new site, and the corner-stone was laid on July 4th of that year.
The institution was finally completed on July 4, 1877, just seven years from the laying of the corner-stone, on July 4, 1870.
The total cost of construction at the time of the opening was $1,520,980.45 - at the time of writing (1901) the cost of construction has exceeded $2,000,000.
The first patient was admitted into the new Hospital on August 23, 1877, and this patient is still an inmate of the institution, twenty years late.
The Hospital, as completed, stands on an elevated plateau about three miles west of High street, on the north side of Broad street, facing almost directly east. It consists of a central Administration Building and two wings, of four sections each, and a rear wing. The lateral wings and the Administration Building have a lineal frontage of about 1,200 feet, and the rear wing and Administration Building have a depth of about 800 feet. It is nearly all four stories in height, and the distance around the foundation walls is about one and one-quarter miles. The building, when opened, accommodated eight hundred and fifty-two patients. In the wings for the patients there were four hundred single rooms and one hundred and sixteen associated dormitories for the use of patients. There were twenty-eight wards from 120 to 180 feet in length, and each ward contained bath, lavatory, water-closet, clothing room and two rooms for attendants.
During the last two years the Hospital has added to its capacity two cottages. These buildings are situated in a grove on the hospital grounds just a short distance west of the main institution. Together they will accommodate about 200 or 225 patients.
One of these buildings for the chronic insane was named for Dr. Wm. W. Awl, the first superintendent of an asylum for the insane in the state of Ohio. This building is intended for the treatment of the incurable cases.
"Greer" cottage is situated a short distance west of "Awl" and is named for Hon. H. H. Greer, President of the Board of Trustees of this institution. It is expected to treat only the acute and curable cases in this cottage. At present these cottages are being fitted up and when they are occupied the entire capacity of the hospital will be close to 1,600 patients.
(extracted from The Biographical Annals of Ohio, 1904-1905)
In 1843 an Act of the General Assembly was passed making provision for the enlargement of the "Lunatic Asylum of Ohio." The Act called for the bricks, preparation of all the materials, manufacturing the necessary tools, implements and machinery, and doing any other part of the work or mechanical labor required for the erection and completion of said buildings to be done by the inmates of the Ohio Penitentiary.
When the Hospital opened its doors for admission in 1877 it was designed to house up to 800 patients. By 1900 there were 1,350 residents and, in 1935, it was cramped with 2,932 patients. It was claimed to be the largest building under one roof until the Pentagon was built. It was also claimed to be the largest mental hospital in the world. Through the decades the once magnificent structure, built on the Kirkbride design, fell into severe disrepair and its doors were finally closed for good in 1985. The buildings were demolished between 1987 and 1991.
