Stockton State Hospital or the Stockton Developmental Center was

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

's first

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, dissociat ...

. The hospital opened in 1851 in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquired Rancho Campo de los Franceses. The city is named after R ...

and closed 1995–1996. The site is currently used as the Stockton campus of

California State University, Stanislaus California State University, Stanislaus (Stanislaus State, Stan State) is a public university in Turlock, Stanislaus County, California. It is part of the California State University system. It was established in 1957 and is also the only cam ...

History

It was constructed as the Insane Asylum of California at Stockton in 1851. It was on of land donated by Captain Charles Maria Weber. The legislature at the time felt that existing hospitals were incapable of caring for the large numbers of people who suffered from mental and emotional conditions as a result of the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

, and authorized the creation of the first public mental health hospital in

. The hospital is #1016 on the Office of Historic Preservation's

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...

list, and today is home to

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

's Stanislaus - Stockton Campus. A cemetery for patients who died there is located on the property. In April 1888 Frank A Peltret, an investigative reporter for the ''San Francisco Examiner'', posed as an insane man to be admitted into the California State Insane Asylum at Stockton. He remained in the asylum for several weeks before his colleague outside the asylum obtained Peltret's release. Peltret wrote a revealing newspaper article about his personal experiences and observations as an inmate. He gave a generally favorable report. He said the experience was better than he had expected. Nevertheless, he thought the asylum needed workshops to give the inmates something to do, more variation in the dining hall menu, more physicians, and closer supervision and training of the asylum attendants. On May 17, 1853 the Stockton General Hospital changed its name to the Insane Asylum of the State of California. In April 1856 Dr. Samuel Langdon, the second Superintendent of the asylum in its history, fought a duel with Dr. William Ryer, his assistant physician, resulting in a bullet wound to Dr. Langdon's knee and his eventual replacement as Superintendent.

Famous patients

* Sarah Althea Hill“Great Minds That Failed,” ''Fresno Morning Republican'', July 25, 1894, p. 3 * Carroll Edward Cole

References

External links

* * * *
Stockton State Hospital
at

Find a Grave Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fi ...

Former Sockton State Hospital
Set of images at

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and profession ...

of the remaining buildings that are left
"San Joaquin Historian" July-September 1976

"San Joaquin Historian" October-December 1976

"San Joaquin Historian" Summer 1998

"So Far Disordered in Mind, Insanity in California 1870-1930"
{{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1853 Buildings and structures in Stockton, California Psychiatric hospitals in California Cemeteries in California Hospitals established in 1851