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Worcester State Hospital was a
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
state mental hospital located in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is credited to the architectural firm of Weston & Rand. The hospital and surrounding associated historic structures are listed as Worcester Asylum and related buildings 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 ...
. It was once known as the Worcester Lunatic Asylum and the Bloomingdale Asylum. The hospital dates back to the 1830s. On January 12, 1833, the Worcester Insane Asylum opened. It was the first of its kind in the state. During the first year, 164 patients were received. As the facility soon became overcrowded, superintendent Merrick Bemis called for the construction of a new asylum. A massive structure was to be laid out in 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 si ...
and located on Belmont Street. Construction began in 1870 and the newly built Worcester State Hospital was completed in 1876 at the cost of well over a million dollars. The wards were named after places in Massachusetts as well as numerous founders of the
American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...
, such as Howe, Appleton, Woodward, Gage, Hooper, Folsom, and Thayer.


History

In 1901 a satellite facility which became the Grafton State Hospital was opened in nearby
Grafton, Massachusetts Grafton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,664 at the 2020 census. The town consists of the North Grafton, Grafton, and South Grafton geographic areas, each with a separate ZIP Code. Incorporated in ...
to give non-violent patients an opportunity to engage in therapeutic work in a rural environment. During its operation, the hospital housed thousands of patients. In 1949, the daily operations of the facility were documented by ''Life'' magazine. In 1958, the Bryan Building was added to relieve stress on the aging Kirkbride complex. Operations slowly transferred to Bryan until the original Kirkbride was abandoned in 1985. In 1991, the Kirkbride suffered numerous fires which left the left wing destroyed and the right wing partially damaged. In 1992, the state declared the site "an effective total loss".


Current use and redevelopment

Although the facility was officially closed in 1991, operations still continued in the Bryan Building until 2012. In 2004 a proposal to build a new facility on this property was put into the works and called for all of the remaining newer and old building to be torn down. Erecting the new hospital would take the place of both the current Westborough State Hospital, Taunton State Hospital, and the Bryan Building of Worcester State Hospital. In 2008, there were plans to film ''Shutter Island'' on the grounds of the hospital. Because of the pending demolition of the facility, filming was not approved and instead the filming took place at
Medfield State Hospital Medfield State Hospital, originally the Medfield Insane Asylum, is a historic former psychiatric hospital complex at 45 Hospital Road in Medfield, Massachusetts, United States. The asylum was established in 1892 as the state's first facility for ...
. In 2008, the remaining buildings on the property with the exception of the Administration Block (with its notable clock tower), the Hooper Turret, and the Hale Building, were torn down. In the spring of 2009 construction on the new hospital began. Designed by Ellenzweig Associates the new facility is 428,000 square feet and
LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, constructio ...
Gold Certified. The new hospital, dubbed Worcester Recovery Center & Hospital (WRCH), was completed in October 2012 and has three recovery stages - House, Neighborhood, and Downtown, progressing as recovery increases. The facility has 260 adult beds, 30 adolescent inpatient beds and 30 adolescent intensive residential treatment beds. All patients in Bryan were transferred to the new complex within a month of the new facility's opening. In 2015, the salvaged clock tower was transformed into a memorial, dedicated to the original Kirkbride building and the effect Worcester had on American Psychiatry. In 2018, the former employee cottages were razed and plans to demolish the Bryan Building and Hale Buildings gained popularity in favor of a new biomedical campus.


Notable faculty

*
Andras Angyal Andras Angyal ( hu, Angyal András; 1902–1960) was an American psychiatrist, known for a holistic model for a theory of personality. Work His 1939 work on "The Structure of Wholes" was seen as a precedent to systems theory in books in the 1960s� ...
, Psychiatrist in the research unit from 1937 to 1945. * David Shakow,American Journal of Orthopsychiatry Volume 7, Issue 1, pages 32–35, January 1937 Psychologist in the research unit


See also

* Worcester State Hospital Farmhouse *
National Register of Historic Places listings in eastern Worcester, Massachusetts There are 98 properties and historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, Engla ...


References


External links

* . (Various documents).
Kirkbride Buildings



WorcesterMass
* http://www.opacity.us/site56_worcester_state_hospital.htm * Th

are located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA. * http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php?title=Worcester_State_Hospital {{authority control 1876 establishments in Massachusetts Psychiatric hospitals in Massachusetts Demolished buildings and structures in Massachusetts Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Hospitals established in 1876 Hospitals in Worcester, Massachusetts Defunct hospitals in Massachusetts Kirkbride Plan hospitals Gothic Revival architecture in Massachusetts Government buildings completed in 1876 Hospital buildings completed in 1876 National Register of Historic Places in Worcester, Massachusetts