The Human Services Center in
Yankton, South Dakota
Yankton is a city in and the county seat of Yankton County, South Dakota, United States.
The population was 15,411 at the 2020 census, and it is the principal city of the Yankton Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes the entirety of Y ...
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 ...
that was built in 1882. It was 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 ...
in 1980.
[
It was included in the ]National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...
's 2009 list of America's Most Endangered Places America's 11 Most Endangered Places or America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places is a list of places in the United States that the National Trust for Historic Preservation considers the most endangered. It aims to inspire Americans to preserve ex ...
. "Founded in 1879 as the South Dakota Hospital for the Insane, the institution’s collection of neo-Classical, Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts DĂ©coratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
and Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
buildings have long stood vacant, and the state plans to tear down 11 of them."
The institution's name has been changed several times from South Dakota State Hospital for the Insane to South Dakota Lunatic Asylum to South Dakota State Hospital, to Yankton State Hospital.
History and present state
In 1879, Governor William A. Howard considered the cities of Vermillion
Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It is ...
, Elk Point, and Canton when he finally decided on Yankton. Yankton is situated on the Missouri River and was at that time the capital of the sparsely-settled Dakota Territory (encompassing present-day North and South Dakota). The hospital was constructed at a total cost of $2,286.85. During the first six months 31 patients were admitted. In 1880, 50 patients caused overcrowding, and the hospital was also understaffed. The population of Yankton was over 3,400, a remarkable increase from the less than 50 in 1859. In 1899, a devastating fire took the lives of seventeen women patients. This led the legislature to seriously consider giving much needed funds to the hospital. They built new smaller buildings, taking precautions to make the walls fireproof, and the rooms for the patients were made much smaller.
In 1918, the name of the hospital was officially changed from Dakota Hospital for the Insane to the Yankton State Hospital. This was done because of complaints that the original name had a derogatory connotation and other types of patients such as alcoholics
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...
, drug addicts, and epileptics
This is a list of notable people who have, or had, the medical condition epilepsy. Following from that, there is a short list of people who have received a speculative, retrospective diagnosis of epilepsy. Finally there is a substantial list o ...
were also housed there. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the institution and the rest of the nation, went through a very difficult period. An increasing rate of admissions combined with a decreasing budget due to the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. Overcrowding was a serious problem in the mid and late 1930s. However, incoming patients were released within a few months, due to updates in healthcare, thus helping to ease the overcrowding problem.
World War II disrupted the flow of progress. Wages at the institution were poor and with so many men gone to war, hospital employees left to take up better-paying jobs. The 1950s brought increased understanding of mental illness and relatives of patients were more willing to accept them, rather than wanting to hide them in Yankton. Medical work at Yankton became more systematized than ever before. Changing attitudes toward the mentally ill contributed greatly to improving conditions at the hospital. Various forms of physical force, such as the use of strait-jackets, were discontinued.
The 1960s saw a significant enlargement of the medical staff. While the staff was also of better quality than at any previous time, patients being locked up in the back wards as punishment and being threatened with never getting out of the hospital for disobeying the rules continued. The need was also seen at this time for a geriatric department. In addition, the population at the hospital continuously decreased year after year. From 1968 to 1973, a great deal of activity took place. Construction was started on a new central building as well as another facility. In addition, four other buildings were renovated. On July 1, 1974, the name of the facility was changed from Yankton State Hospital to the South Dakota Human Services Center. The change was enacted by session of the Legislature to more clearly reflect the services such as dietary help, mental health, drug addicts, alcoholics, geriatrics, and epileptics.
The 1980s saw further development in services and programs available to HSC patients. In 1991, Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
George S. Mickelson
George Speaker Mickelson (January 31, 1941April 19, 1993) was an American politician and Vietnam War veteran who served as the 28th governor of South Dakota from 1987 until his death in 1993 in a plane crash near Zwingle, Iowa.
His father, Ge ...
found it would be more costly to renovate the old buildings dating back to the 1800s than to construct new ones specifically designed to meet the needs of the state. Governor Mickelson advanced bills proposing design and construction of a new psychiatric facility which passed by an overwhelming majority of the 1992 State Legislature.
Dedication and Ground Breaking Ceremonies were held on April 28, 1994. Recognizing the efforts of Governor Mickelson, the new facility was dedicated "George S. Mickelson Center for the Neurosciences." The new facility was completed in the fall of 1996 and was occupied in October 1996. Skywalks have been built to connect the partially renovated original buildings. The hospital remains in operation although many original buildings have been turned into a museum.[South Dakota Department of Social Services: http://dss.sd.gov/behavioralhealthservices/hsc/history.asp ]
Photographs
* 1935 aerial photo of the Yankton State Hospital complex: https://web.archive.org/web/20120304070248/http://www.daylife.com/photo/02JC8aY5QhaL5
References
{{Authority control
Hospital buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in South Dakota
Hospital buildings completed in 1882
Buildings and structures in Yankton, South Dakota
Hospitals established in 1879
1879 establishments in the United States
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in South Dakota
National Register of Historic Places in Yankton County, South Dakota