Columbus State Hospital

Columbus State Hospital, also known as Ohio State Hospital for Insane, was a public psychiatric hospital in Columbus, Ohio, founded in 1838 and rebuilt in 1877.[1] The hospital was constructed under the Kirkbride Plan.[2]

Columbus State Hospital
20th century aerial view of the hospital
Geography
Location1960 West Broad St., Columbus, Ohio, United States
Organization
FundingPublic hospital
TypeSpecialist
Services
SpecialityPsychiatric hospital
History
Opened1838
Closedlate 1980s
Links
ListsHospitals in Ohio
Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum
NRHP reference No.86000851
Added to NRHPApril 24, 1986

The building was said to have been the largest in the U.S. or the world, until the Pentagon was completed in 1943.[3][4]

History

The Lunatic Asylum of Ohio was initially organized by an act of the General Assembly passed on March 5, 1835.[5] The original hospital building, after three years of construction, was completed in 1838 at a cost of about $61,000.[1][5] Dr. William M. Awl was elected as the first Medical Superintendent of the asylum.[5]

In November 1868, a fire destroyed the asylum, killing six patients and displacing over 300 others.[5] The hospital was rebuilt in the Kirkbride style in 1877.[1] The hospital was closed in the late 1980s, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in an attempt to save the building in 1986. The structure was nevertheless demolished between 1991 and 1996[1] by S.G. Loewendick & Sons.[6]

  • Main structure, c. 1900-1906
    Main structure, c. 1900-1906
  • 1910 property map
    1910 property map
  • One of three cemeteries used by the asylum
    One of three cemeteries used by the asylum


See also

References
  1. "Columbus State Hospital". Kirkbride Buildings. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  2. "Columbus State Hospital". Ohio State University Library. September 26, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  3. "Curious Cbus: What's the History of the Columbus Insane Cemetery?". 10 January 2020.
  4. "Group tries saving old hospital wing". The Columbus Dispatch. December 11, 1985. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
  5. The Biographical Annals of Ohio 1906-1907-1908. pp. 863–866 – via Internet Archive.
  6. Foster, Emily (Mar 4, 2019) [First published November 1988]. "From the Archives: Columbus' First Family of Destruction". Columbus Monthly. Retrieved May 7, 2020.

Further reading
  • Yanni, Carla (2007). The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States. Minnesota University Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-4940-2.


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