Napa State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Napa, California, founded in 1875. It is located along California State Route 221, the Napa- Vallejo Highway, and is one of California's five state hospitals. Napa State Hospital holds civil and forensic patients in a sprawling 138-acre campus. According to a hospital spokesperson, there were 2,338 people employed at the facility during the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year, making it one of the region's largest employers. The Napa Valley Cricket Club played a number of their matches at McGrath Field, a multi-use sports field, at the eastern end of the Napa State Hospital campus for the 2017 season.

History

The property was originally part of

Rancho Tulucay Rancho Tulucay was a Ranchos of California, Mexican land grant in present day Napa County, California given in 1841 by Governor pro tem Manuel Jimeno to Cayetano Juarez. The Tulucay name originates with the names Tulkays and Ulucas that were ap ...

, part of a Mexican Land Grant, sold by

Cayetano Juarez Cayetano is a Spanish and sometimes Sephardic Jewish name related to the Italian name Gaetano (English: ''Cajetan''), both from Latin ''Caietanus'', meaning "from Gaeta". It is a common given name in Spain, Mexico, Argentina and the Philippines. As ...

to the

State of California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in 1872. Originally named Napa Insane Asylum, the facility opened on November 15, 1875. It sat on of property stretching from the Napa River to what is now Skyline Park. The facility was originally built to relieve overcrowding at Stockton Asylum. By the early 1890s, the facility had over 1,300 patients which was over double the original capacity it was designed to house. In 1893, the Mendocino State Hospital was opened and relieved some of the overcrowding at the Napa State Hospital. The original main building known as "The Castle" was an ornate and imposing building constructed with bricks. Facilities on the property included a large farm that included dairy and poultry ranches, vegetable garden, and fruit orchards that provided a large part of the food supply consumed by the residents. "The Castle" main building was torn down after World War II. This hospital was one of the many state asylums that had sterilization centers. Approximately 4,000 former patients are buried in a field at the Napa State Hospital, and about 1,400 people were buried at the Sonoma Regional Center (now North Bay Regional Center). In 1978, this hospital was the site of The Cramps concert, when several patients attempted to escape.

Notable patients

* Edward Charles Allaway - mass murderer; transferred to Napa in 2016 * Richard Allen Davis - murderer and career criminal; was sent to Napa after faking a suicide attempt so he could escape in 1976 *

Charles E. Huber Charles Edward Huber ( 1845–1904) was from a well-known family in Los Angeles, California, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and served on the city's governing body, the Common Council, between 1873 and 1875. Near the end of his life h ...

- businessman; was admitted after increasingly bizarre and violent behavior * Chol Soo Lee - immigrant accused of murder; was admitted following a suicide attempt while incarcerated in 1966 * Eddie Machen - boxer; admitted for threatening suicide in 1962 *

Earle Nelson Earle Leonard Nelson ( Ferral; May 12, 1897January 13, 1928), also known in the media as the Gorilla Man, the Gorilla Killer, and the Dark Strangler, was an American serial killer, rapist, and necrophilia, necrophile, who is considered the first ...

– serial killer; was sent to Napa several times and escaped prior to his killings *

Henry Peavey Henry Peavey (March 3, 1882 – December 27, 1931) was the cook and valet of Hollywood silent film director William Desmond Taylor. Peavey worked for Taylor for six months prior to Taylor's murder in 1922. Employment by Taylor Prior to working ...

- cook and valet for William Desmond Taylor; was admitted after being diagnosed with syphilis *

Bull Perrine Frederick "Bull" Perrine (1877 – June 5, 1915) was a professional baseball umpire who worked in the American League from 1909 to 1912. Perrine umpired 507 major league games in his four-year career. He was the home plate umpire on April 20, 191 ...

- baseball umpire; was admitted due to failing health and later died in Napa *

William G. Sebold William G. Sebold (''Gottlieb Adolf Wilhelm Sebold ''; March 10, 1899 in Mülheim, Germany – February 16, 1970 in Napa, California) was a United States citizen who was coerced into becoming a spy when he visited Germany after being pressured ...

- German U.S. citizen and spy; admitted for manic depression in 1965 *

Scott Harlan Thorpe On January 10, 2001, a shooting spree took place in Nevada County, California, when 40-year-old Scott Harlan Thorpe opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol, killing three people and wounding three others in two separate shootings in the Nevada ...

- spree killer; sentenced to Napa *

Clarice Vance Clarice Vance ''née'' Clara Etta Black (March 14, 1870 – August 24, 1961), "The Southern Singer" was an American vaudeville personality from the late 19th century to about 1917. Early life and marriage Clarice Vance was born in Ohio in 1870. ...

- vaudeville personality; died in Napa after being admitted for failing health * Carleton Watkins - photographer; was admitted by his daughter

Notable staff

Matilda Allison Matilda Eva Allison (February 18, 1888 – November 21, 1973) was an American educator, a blind woman working with blind students, including veterans of World War I. She passed California's civil service examination in 1919, opening career oppor ...

- educator who taught blind veterans at Napa * Dorothea Dix - psychiatric reformer *

Meredith Hodges Meredith Sue Hodges (née Schulz; born February 5, 1950) is an American equine trainer, competitor, educator, author and TV personality specializing in mules and donkeys, specifically the contemporary saddle mule. Early life Hodges's mother is J ...

- psychiatric technician * Thomas Story Kirkbride - physician

In popular culture

* The hospital comes up several times in ''

The 6th Target ''The 6th Target'' is the sixth book in the Women's Murder Club series featuring Lindsay Boxer by author James Patterson with Maxine Paetro Maxine Paetro is an American author who has been published since 1979. Paetro has collaborated with best ...

'' by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.

References

External links