Harrisburg State Hospital Cemetery
About Founded as the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital, this was the first state hospital for the mentally ill established in Pennsylvania, thanks to the lobbying of well-known reformer Dorothea Dix. The hospital admitted its first patients in 1851. The campus showcases how approaches to care for the insane transitioned from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth…
Read MoreClarks Summit State Hospital Cemetery
Clarks Summit State Hospital began in 1862 as a so-called “poor farm” named the Hillside Home and Hospital. Authority over the farm changed over the decades from Providence Township to nearby Scranton and eventually Lackawanna County. Throughout these shifts, more and more people who had been declared insane were held at the Hillside Home. In…
Read MoreConnecticut Valley Hospital Cemetery
The Connecticut Valley Hospital Opened in 1868 under the name General Hospital for the Insane of the State of Connecticut. The name was changed in 1874 to the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane, and finally in 1961 to Connecticut Valley Hospital. In the late nineteenth century the hospital became overcrowded, something that was common in…
Read MoreBrewster’s Neck Cemetery
Norwich Hospital was opened in 1904 under the name Norwich State Hospital for the Insane as a means of relieving some of the overcrowding of Connecticut Valley Hospital. The hospital was partially constructed based on the Kirkbride Plan, a style of architecture for mental hospitals that emphasized the nineteenth century idea of moral treatment. The…
Read MoreWernersville State Hospital Cemetery
Image courtesy of findagrave.com About The Wernersville State Hospital began in 1891 as the State Asylum for the Chronic Insane. By 1893, it held one hundred men and thirty women, all transferred from other state hospitals. The institution originated as a long-term care facility for those deemed non-violent but still in need of care, possibly…
Read MoreSelinsgrove Center Memorial Park
Image courtesy of findagrave.com About The Eastern State Hospital for the Insane was established in 1917 and opened in 1929. The school initially only admitted men, but later in the 1940s, women were also accommodated. The facility was renamed the Selinsgrove State Colony for Epileptics and, in 1954, became the Selinsgrove State School and Hospital.…
Read MoreRetreat Hospital Cemetery
About The hospital was initially established in 1860 as an almshouse by the Central Poor District of Luzerne County. First a female ward was opened in 1878 and later a male ward was added in 1884. In 1900, the almshouse added a hospital for treating those deemed insane. The hospital operated under the name “Retreat…
Read MoreEmbreeville State Hospital Cemetery
Image courtesy of findagrave.com Embreeville began as the Chester County Almshouse in West Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1798. Its name changed to the Chester County Home in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and an adjoining “insane asylum” opened in 1900. The entire complex passed from Chester County to the state in 1914. It became…
Read MoreDanville State Hospital Cemetery
About Founded in 1868 (with its first patient arriving in 1872) as the State Hospital for the Insane at Danville, this state hospital remains in operation. It was originally constructed under the Kirkbride Plan. Its campus and population grew rapidly, peaking in the 1950s at about 2800. Since then, efforts to reduce its population and…
Read MoreWarren State Hospital Cemetery
About Established as the State Hospital for Insane, Warren State Hospital admitted its first residents in 1880. By 1893, it was over capacity by at least 250 people. The hospital was established under the Kirkbride style of architecture and treatment, with an emphasis on on-site food cultivation. Its population peaked in the mid-twentieth century at about…
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