history
Dogwood State Psychiatric Center is the second oldest psychiatric hospital in the history of the United States. It was founded in 1797 as a place to house the poor and mentally ill population from the city. During its lifetime the hospital also grew to house the sick during epidemics such as yellow fever, and it was sometimes used as a general hospital for armed forces.
The hospital treated sick and wounded soldiers, including the War of 1812 when 250 locally wounded men were transported to Dogwood. There is also evidence that some slaves were definitely admitted for care.
Most patients were kept under strict treatment, in locked rooms or behind the hospital’s large walls. Moral Treatment was the early prescription for psychological care.
The hospital was moved around 1852 and new buildings were constructed to replace the old dilapidated ones, including the creation of a main building using the popular ideals of the Thomas Kirkbride Plan. It was built in sections, delayed by wars, including the Civil War. The first use of the new facility was in fact to house injured Union soldiers. The new site was finally completed in 1872, and the original buildings on the old site were demolished to make way for construction on a very famous medical hospital which still is in operation today.
Only about two percent of the patient population required restraints in its early years, but still the hospital worked to eliminate all use of restraint, becoming one of the first institutions in the country to do so. The hospital population was up to 461 patients in 1863. Patients were encouraged to enjoy the hospital’s grounds and calm serene outdoor setting. They also engaged in work and activities for fun during their stay.
In addition to the massive Kirkbride building, other smaller buildings began to pop up on the campus, including the Foster Wade building, constructed in 1914. Dogwood eventually gave in to a more cottage-like plan on its campus, with many separate buildings instead of one main large building housing all services.
The Foster-Wade building was built in two construction phases due to funding limitations from the ongoing war, with the center portion and east wing completed by 1920 and the west wing added in 1926. Mentally ill soldiers from World War I were housed in this building until 1925 when Veterans Services moved to an offsite location and the building was used for acute psychiatric patients, as well as housing the operating rooms and other medical services for the entire campus until 1934 when such services were moved to another building. In later years the building housed forensic patients, and eventually closed for good in 1979 and now serves as storage.
The building has never been remodeled, and so its interior serves as an indicator of the hospital’s original design and structure of buildings. The Foster-Wade building is the oldest patient building still standing on the campus of Dogwood Psychiatric Center.
Dogwood’s patient levels grew steadily and by World War II the clinic was overflowing with patients, much like other psychiatric hospitals in the country at this time. New buildings were built but labor and funding shortages due to the war made staffing and construction difficult. The horrible living conditions were exposed to the public, and new advances in medicine led to the gradual decline in patient population.
Patients were moved out of the historic and beautiful main Kirkbride building due to fire hazards and general age, and it was razed in 1963. Its rubble actually lies under the soil which grass currently grows on today, in the building’s footprint. Occasionally small underground sections of the main building will collapse, such as an air shaft or a basement room, and a slight indentation will appear in the ground, as a reminder of what once stood.
Today the hospital still operates on the same grounds but in newer buildings, and provides beds to approximately 330 patients and a very well known research institution.