Westborough State Hospital

Westborough State Hospital

A shuttered building at Westborough State Hospital
Location Westborough, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°18′4″N 71°36′37″W / 42.30111°N 71.61028°W / 42.30111; -71.61028Coordinates: 42°18′4″N 71°36′37″W / 42.30111°N 71.61028°W / 42.30111; -71.61028
Built 1848
Architect Elias Carter; Kendall, Taylor & Stevens
Architectural style Mid 19th Century Revival, Colonial Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman
MPS Massachusetts State Hospitals And State Schools MPS
NRHP Reference #

93001488

[1]
Added to NRHP January 21, 1994

Westborough State Hospital, originally "Westborough Insane Hospital", was a historic hospital in Westborough, Massachusetts, which sat on more than 600 acres (240 ha). The core campus area was located between Lyman Street and Chauncy Lake,[2] north of Massachusetts Route 9. The hospital was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The hospital was established in 1884 on the grounds of the State Reform School for Boys. The existing buildings were renovated to accommodate the needs of a mental hospital and was opened on December 1, 1886. This was the first homeopathic hospital for the insane established in New England; but such hospitals existed in New York, Michigan, and perhaps other states.[3]

The pioneering African-American psychiatrist Solomon Carter Fuller spent the majority of his career practicing at the hospital in the early 1900s. While there, he performed his ground-breaking research on the physical changes to the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients.

The hospital was closed in 2010, in anticipation of a new Worcester State Hospital opening in 2012.[4] The ten-bed Deaf Unit, the two Adolescent Units, and the Intensive Residential Treatment Program (one step below State Hospital Level) programs were closed by June 2010.[5]

On May 9, 2015, a memorial service was held in nearby Pine Grove Cemetery for the more than 500 patients who died at Westborough State Hospital and whose remains were unclaimed and subsequently buried in a potter's field. The service was part of a larger effort to put names to the graves of the deceased.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15.
  2. ↑ "Westborough State Hospital". mass.gov. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  3. ↑ Sixth Annual Report of the State Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity of Massachusetts. 1884. State of Massachusetts. 1885. p. 99.
  4. ↑ O’Connell, Scott (July 31, 2009). "Westborough State Hospital to close by next summer". wickedlocal.com.
  5. ↑ Hammel, Lee (2010-04-11). "Westboro State Hospital set to close". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  6. ↑ Sullivan, Mark (2015-05-10). "Westboro hospital ceremony honors those buried with no name". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved 2015-05-11.

General References

  1. Annual Reports of the Westborough Insane Hospital (1885-1911, 1926-1936)
  2. Annual Reports of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts (1875-1914)
  3. Annual Reports of the State Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity (1879-1896)


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