The Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center is a

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociative ...

operated by the state of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. It is located at 656 State Street in Bangor, and was previously known as the Eastern Maine Insane Asylum and the Bangor Mental Health Institute. It was established in 1895, and the main building on its campus is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Services and coverage area

The Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center provides inpatient and outpatient care to the state's severest mentally ill in an area covering the eastern two-thirds of the state. It has 51 beds, and provides its services to both voluntary and involuntary (court-committed) patients. Its operations are governed by state legislation, and are overseen by the state's Department of Health and Human Services.

History

Maine's first psychiatric hospital was the

Maine Insane Hospital The Maine Insane Hospital, later the Augusta Mental Health Institute (AMHI), was a psychiatric hospital in Augusta, Maine. It was the principal facility for the care and treatment of Maine's mentally ill from 1840 to 2004, and its surviving buildi ...

, established in Augusta in 1835. That facility was repeatedly enlarged, until 1889, when it was determined to no longer be feasible to expand it further. The state appointed a committee to identify a location for a second facility, resulting in the selection of this location. The centerpiece of the campus is a sprawling, connected multi-building complex, at whose center is the hospital's first building, designed by the noted

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

architect

John Calvin Stevens John Calvin Stevens (October 8, 1855 – January 25, 1940) was an American architect who worked in the Shingle Style, in which he was a major innovator, and the Colonial Revival style. He designed more than 1,000 buildings in the state of Maine ...

and completed in 1897. The wings, which were designed by Bangor architect George Coombs, were added in 1899–1901, when the facility formally opened its doors. The hospital continued to grow over the course of the 20th century, generally according to the principles of the

Kirkbride Plan The Kirkbride Plan was a system of mental asylum design advocated by American psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride (1809–1883) in the mid-19th century. The asylums built in the Kirkbride design, often referred to as Kirkbride Buildings (or simp ...

for the design and organization of mental hospitals. The main building was listed on the

in 1987; it is one of the state's largest public buildings. . When founded, it was known as the Eastern Maine Insane Hospital. Its name was changed in 1913 to Bangor State Hospital, and then to Bangor Mental Health Institute. In 2005 it was renamed the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center, in honor of

Dorothea Dix Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first gene ...

, a pioneering 19th-century advocate for the improved treatment of the mentally ill.

Campus

The center's campus is located on Bangor's east side, between State Street (

United States Route 2 U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, whi ...

) and Mount Hope Avenue, with Saxl Park on its west side. In addition to the sprawling main building, the campus includes the Tubercular Center, Hedin Hall, the Pre-Release center, a maintenance building, and Pooler Pavilion.

References

{{authority control Hospital buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Buildings and structures completed in 1896 Buildings and structures in Bangor, Maine Psychiatric hospitals in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Bangor, Maine 1896 establishments in Maine

Services and coverage area

History

Campus

See also

References