Just east of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex are the grounds of the Harrisburg State Hospital, the commonwealth’s first public facility for the mentally ill and disabled.
Originally planned in 1845, the official name became the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital in 1848 and eventually just the Harrisburg State Hospital. The hospital was an outgrowth of progressive reforms in Pennsylvania government, but also the tireless lobbying efforts of famed social reformer Dorothea Dix.
The first “main” building was built and designed by architect John Haviland. The large structure could accommodate 300 patients, as well as hospital staff and administration. Room, board and treatment were funded by the patients themselves or provided for by the counties of admission. The initial fee was $2 a week per patient, but was later based upon ability to pay.
As admissions to the hospital grew, the construction of the north and south wings became necessary. One wing was for female patients and the other for male patients. Over time, more wings were added, each 20 feet back from the former.
This design, called the “Kirkbride Plan” was named for Dr. Thomas Kirkbride, superintendent of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane in Philadelphia. This plan allowed as much air and natural light into the buildings as possible. To the rear of the main structure was a bakery and boiler facility for heating the hospital. As the 19th century wore on, the hospital kept expanding, including numerous types of trade buildings, such as a carpenter’s shop, blacksmith’s shop, paint shop and a 150-acre farm, which made the entire hospital largely self-sustaining.
By 1893, the main building was showing signs of wear. Therefore, the General Assembly appropriated $100,000 to remove it and build a new administrative building, completed by architect Addison Hutton in 1895. The commonwealth went on to appropriate more funds to remove old buildings and construct new ones, and the overall plan of the hospital was changed to what was termed the “cottage house” system.
Architect Hutton, along with John Dempwolfe, practically redesigned and reconstructed the hospital in its entirety from 1893 to 1912. The new hospital could accommodate 1,000 patients, and the male and female areas mirrored each other in construction. Numerous employee quarters were also constructed on the grounds, including physician quarters and residences for married employees. Tunnels connected the buildings and also served as conduits for steam and electric.
During the 1930s and ‘40s, the hospital continued to grow in terms of patients, but was able to avoid expansion through parole of patients, as well as transfers to other hospitals. At its peak in the 1940s, more than 3,000 patients were housed at the hospital. By the 1960s and ‘70s, changes in the approach and treatment of mental illness led to the gradual abandonment of numerous buildings.
Patients at the hospital decreased until the late 1990s. Governor Ed Rendell officially closed the Harrisburg State Hospital in 2006, but not after it gained some fame for being used in 1999 for the set of the film “Girl, Interrupted.” Most buildings have now been taken over for use by other state agencies, but a walk around the grounds is still a journey through the history of institutional architecture and mental health in Pennsylvania.
Jason Wilson is a historian for the Capitol Preservation Committee.
