Eastern State Hospital (Virginia)

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Coordinates: 37°17′17.8″N 76°44′5.3″W / 37.288278°N 76.734806°W / 37.288278; -76.734806
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

37°17′17.8″N 76°44′5.3″W / 37.288278°N 76.734806°W / 37.288278; -76.734806

The hospital's rebuilt original 1774 building as it stands today in Williamsburg, Virginia

Eastern State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in

mentally ill
. The original building had burned but was reconstructed in 1985.

Francis Fauquier and the Enlightenment

Eastern State Hospital traces its foundation to a speech by

Stamp Act and Virginia Resolves
, Fauquier primarily discussed the relationship between the Mother Country and these colonists, and expressed optimism for their future. His speech also unexpectedly addressed the mentally ill, as follows:

"It is expedient I should also recommend to your Consideration and Humanity a poor unhappy set of People who are deprived of their senses and wander about the Country, terrifying the Rest of their fellow creatures. A legal Confinement, and proper Provision, ought to be appointed for these miserable Objects, who cannot help themselves. Every civilized Country has a Hospital for these People, where they are confined, maintained and attended by able Physicians, to endeavor to restore to them their lost reason."[1]

About a year later, on April 11, 1767, Governor Fauquier addressed the same issue before the next House of Burgesses, thus:

"There is a subject which gives me concern, on which I shall particularly address myself to you, as it is your peculiar province to provide means for the subsistence of the poor of any kind. The subject I mean is the case of the poor lunatics. I find on your journals that it was Resolved, That a hospital be erected for the reception of persons who are so unhappy as to be deprived of their reason; And that it was Ordered, that the Committee of Propositions and Grievances do prepare and bring in a bill pursuant to the above resolution. But I do not find that any thing more was done in it. It was a measure which I think could offend no party, and which I was in hopes humanity would have dictated to every man, as soon as he was made acquainted with the call for it. It also concerns me much on another account; for as the case now stands, I am as it were compelled to the daily commission of an illegal act, by confining without my authority, a poor lunatic, who, if set at liberty, would be mischievous to society; and I would choose to be bound by, and observant of, the laws of the country. As I think this is a point of some importance to the ease and comfort of the whole community, as well as a point of charity to the unhappy objects, I shall again recommend it to you at your next meeting; when I hope, after mature reflection, it will be found to be more worth your attention than it has been in this."[2]

Governor Fauquier's benevolent and bold expressions did eventually lead to the establishment of the Eastern State Hospital, although he died March 3, 1768, before it was built.[3] His compassion and humanitarian care for those who needed it the most, made it easier for his ideas to be developed and a facility built.[4]

Fauquier's concern probably rested in

Bethlehem Royal Hospital (sometimes called Bedlam) attracted many tourists and even held frequent parades of inmates. Enlightenment attitudes encouraged more sensitivity towards the mentally ill, rather than treating them as outcasts and fools. Some started to believe that being mentally ill was, in fact, an illness of the mind, much like a physical disease or sickness, and that these mental illnesses were also treatable.[2]

Before Governor Fauquier's speeches, a person who was mentally ill was not diagnosed by a doctor, but rather judged by 12 citizens, much like a jury, to be either a criminal, lunatic or Idiot. Most classified as lunatic were placed in the Public Gaol in Williamsburg. Taxpayers probably appreciated the hospital idea only if they had a family member or close friend who was mentally ill. The only hospital where mentally ill patients were sometimes taken before Eastern State Hospital was built, was the Pennsylvania Hospital, a Quaker institution in Philadelphia. Until a campaign by Benjamin Rush in 1792 to establish a separate treatment wing, mentally ill patients were kept in the basement and out of the way of regular patients who needed medical assistance.[5]

Percival Goodhouse was thought to be one of the first patients admitted to the Eastern State Hospital after its opening on October 12, 1773.[6]

Civil War and decline

Dr. John M. Galt

In 1841, Dr. John Galt was appointed superintendent of the hospital, with roughly 125 patients (then called "inmates") at the time. Dr. Galt introduced

talk therapy alongside nurses and aides. Although he claimed to treat patients equally regardless of their race, Galt did not publish racial breakdowns of his patients.[7]

When the Civil War came to Williamsburg, the hospital found itself alternately on one side of the lines and then the other. On May 6, 1862, Union troops captured the asylum. Two weeks later, on May 17 or 18, Dr. Galt died of an overdose of laudanum, though it is unclear whether this was intentional or accidental.[8] When the hospital was captured, Union soldiers found that the 252 patients had been locked in without food or supplies by the fleeing white employees. Somersett Moore was the only non-African American employee to return following the capture, and he gave the keys to release the patients to the occupying men.[9]

In the following decades, the increasingly crowded hospital saw a regression in methodology as science was increasingly viewed as an ineffective means of dealing with mental illness. During this era of custodial care, the goal became not to cure patients, but to provide a comfortable environment for them, separate from society. On June 7, 1885, the original 1773 hospital burned to the ground due to a fire that had started in the building's newly added electrical wiring, a consequence of the great expansion of facilities at this time.

Restoration

By 1935 Eastern State Hospital housed some 2,000 patients with no more land for expansion. The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg and development of the Williamsburg Inn resulted in the facility being at the center of a thriving tourist trade. The hospital's location and space issues made a move necessary. Between 1937 and 1968, all of Eastern State's patients were moved to a new facility on the outskirts of Williamsburg, Virginia, where it continues to operate today.

In 1985, the original hospital was reconstructed on its excavated foundations by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

References

  1. ^ John P. Kennedy, ed., Journal of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1766–1769. (Richmond, 1906), p. 12.
  2. ^ a b Wacksman, Jeremy. (2003 December) "A Most Curious Choice: The mystery surrounding the establishment of the Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg"
  3. ^ Dictionary of Virginia Biography. (2010). Francis Fauquier (bap. 1703–1768)
  4. ^ Goor, Ron and Nancy. Williamsburg: Cradle of the Revolution. (New York: Atheneum Macmillan Publishing Company, 1994) p. 44.
  5. ^ Wacksman, Jeremy. (2003 December). A Most Curious Choice: Fauquier and the Enlightenment
  6. ^ Maggie Culyba (2003-10-30), "A Ghostly Encounter", The DoG Street Journal, archived from the original on 2012-02-16
  7. ^ "The History of Eastern State". Eastern State Hospital. Virginia.gov. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  8. ^ "The History of Eastern State Hospital". Eastern State Hospital. Virginia.gov. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  9. ^ "The History of Eastern State Hospital". Eastern State Hospital. Virginia.gov. Retrieved March 1, 2020.

Further reading

  • Rouse, Parke Jr. (1973). Cows on the Campus: Williamsburg in Bygone Days. Deitz Press.
    ISBN 0-87517-047-1
    .

External links
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