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St. Elizabeths Hospital
St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. The hospital opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the United States.
Housing over 8,000 patients at its peak in the 1950s, the hospital had a fully functioning medical-surgical unit, a school of nursing, accredited internships and psychiatric residencies. Its campus was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990.
Since 2010, the hospital's functions have been limited to the portion of the East Campus operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. The remainder of the East Campus is slated for redevelopment by the District of Columbia. The West Campus was transferred to the United States Department of Homeland Security for its headquarters and its subsidiary agencies. The Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building, with hundreds of Coast Guard personnel, is a joint tenant of the campus.
The campus grounds contain the Saint Elizabeths Hospital East and West Cemeteries. Burials were performed on the West Campus beginning in 1856. Approximately 450 graves of Civil War veterans and an unknown number of civilians are buried on the West Campus. In 1873, the three-quarter-acre West Campus burying ground was deemed full, and a new cemetery was opened on the East Campus. Approximately 2,050 military and 3,000 civilian interments occurred on the nine-acre cemetery on the East Campus over the next 120 years.
The hospital was under the control of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services until 1987. At that time, ownership of its East Campus was transferred by the federal government to the District of Columbia.
St. Elizabeths Hospital was founded as the Government Hospital for the Insane in August 1852 when the United States Congress appropriated $100,000 for the construction of a hospital in Washington, D.C., to provide care for indigent residents of the District of Columbia and members of the U.S. Army and Navy with brain illnesses.
In the 1830s, local residents, including Dr. Thomas Miller, a medical doctor and president of the Washington, D.C. Board of Health, had begun petitioning Congress for a facility to care for people with brain diseases in the City of Washington. Dorothea Dix (1802–1887) served as a pioneering advocate for people living with mental illnesses and she helped convince legislators of the need for the hospital. In 1852 she wrote the legislation that established the hospital.
Dix, who was on friendly terms with U.S. President Millard Fillmore, was asked to assist the Interior Secretary in getting the hospital started. Her recommendation resulted in the appointment of Dr. Charles H. Nichols as the hospital's first superintendent. After his appointment in the fall of 1852, Nichols and Dix began formulating a plan for the hospital's design and operation. They set out to find an appropriate location, based upon guidelines created by Thomas Story Kirkbride. His 1854 manual recommended specifics such as site, ventilation, number of patients, and the need for a rural location proximate to a city. He also recommended that the location have good soil for farming and gardens for the patients. Large facilities were self-supporting and some of the work was considered good for patients to engage in.
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St. Elizabeths Hospital
St. Elizabeths Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington, D.C. operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. The hospital opened in 1855 under the name Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the United States.
Housing over 8,000 patients at its peak in the 1950s, the hospital had a fully functioning medical-surgical unit, a school of nursing, accredited internships and psychiatric residencies. Its campus was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990.
Since 2010, the hospital's functions have been limited to the portion of the East Campus operated by the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health. The remainder of the East Campus is slated for redevelopment by the District of Columbia. The West Campus was transferred to the United States Department of Homeland Security for its headquarters and its subsidiary agencies. The Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building, with hundreds of Coast Guard personnel, is a joint tenant of the campus.
The campus grounds contain the Saint Elizabeths Hospital East and West Cemeteries. Burials were performed on the West Campus beginning in 1856. Approximately 450 graves of Civil War veterans and an unknown number of civilians are buried on the West Campus. In 1873, the three-quarter-acre West Campus burying ground was deemed full, and a new cemetery was opened on the East Campus. Approximately 2,050 military and 3,000 civilian interments occurred on the nine-acre cemetery on the East Campus over the next 120 years.
The hospital was under the control of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services until 1987. At that time, ownership of its East Campus was transferred by the federal government to the District of Columbia.
St. Elizabeths Hospital was founded as the Government Hospital for the Insane in August 1852 when the United States Congress appropriated $100,000 for the construction of a hospital in Washington, D.C., to provide care for indigent residents of the District of Columbia and members of the U.S. Army and Navy with brain illnesses.
In the 1830s, local residents, including Dr. Thomas Miller, a medical doctor and president of the Washington, D.C. Board of Health, had begun petitioning Congress for a facility to care for people with brain diseases in the City of Washington. Dorothea Dix (1802–1887) served as a pioneering advocate for people living with mental illnesses and she helped convince legislators of the need for the hospital. In 1852 she wrote the legislation that established the hospital.
Dix, who was on friendly terms with U.S. President Millard Fillmore, was asked to assist the Interior Secretary in getting the hospital started. Her recommendation resulted in the appointment of Dr. Charles H. Nichols as the hospital's first superintendent. After his appointment in the fall of 1852, Nichols and Dix began formulating a plan for the hospital's design and operation. They set out to find an appropriate location, based upon guidelines created by Thomas Story Kirkbride. His 1854 manual recommended specifics such as site, ventilation, number of patients, and the need for a rural location proximate to a city. He also recommended that the location have good soil for farming and gardens for the patients. Large facilities were self-supporting and some of the work was considered good for patients to engage in.