New Jersey Lunatic Asylum
The amount of history behind this state facility is outstanding. It has plenty of "firsts" for the State of New Jersey and the United States as a whole. This facility also has one of the darkest histories behind any similar facility. Construction of the state hospital was proposed in 1845 by Ms. Dorothea Dix. She had spent the year prior to visiting every county in NJ and observing how they treat their insane. After her visits, she had proposed a centralized facility where the state can successfully treat their mentally ill. The hospital opened its doors for patients in May of 1848 after spending $153, 861.90 on the construction and preparation. It was the first state hospital in NJ and the first ever hospital in the United States to be constructed following a Kirkbride Plan. The architect responsible for this was John Notman.
The 1800's saw many new additions to the state hospital. These additions included added wings to the Kirkbride building and extra buildings being constructed on campus. As the need for more space became evident, the additions to the Kirkbride would house about 250 patients. After the construction of Greystone (the state of NJ's second state hospital), the state was to be divided in half by each institution. Greystone was to serveBergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Union and Warren, and this facility would serve the central and southern counties. The hospital would continue to grow in size and would eventually house all nurses and doctors, including a school of nursing. It was a self-sustaining campus with its own farm, dairy barn, laundry services, food services, and power/water services.
The state hospital had a similar timeline to similar facilities. What sets this institution apart from others is its dark history. That began when in 1907, Dr. Henry Cotton became the medical director of the hospital. D.r Cotton's main belief was that all mental illness stemmed from untreated infections of the body. This methodology is what sparked torturous and experimental procedures to be performed at this state facility.
Cotton began to experiment on patients by removing their teeth, as he believed teeth harbored infections. If no improvement in mental health was seen, their tonsils would then be removed. Dr. Cotton removed many organs at random in patients at the facility. He removed testicles, ovaries, gall bladders, stomachs, spleens, cervixes, and an astonishing amount of colons. He reported to the public that 85% of patients that underwent this were cured of their mental illness. This was a lie, close to 45% of patients who saw Dr. Cotton died shortly after. Many died from an infection of the experimental surgeries and complications of the removal of a vital organ. When this information came to the public, Cotton retired from the state hospital in 1930.
Read MoreThe 1800's saw many new additions to the state hospital. These additions included added wings to the Kirkbride building and extra buildings being constructed on campus. As the need for more space became evident, the additions to the Kirkbride would house about 250 patients. After the construction of Greystone (the state of NJ's second state hospital), the state was to be divided in half by each institution. Greystone was to serveBergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, Union and Warren, and this facility would serve the central and southern counties. The hospital would continue to grow in size and would eventually house all nurses and doctors, including a school of nursing. It was a self-sustaining campus with its own farm, dairy barn, laundry services, food services, and power/water services.
The state hospital had a similar timeline to similar facilities. What sets this institution apart from others is its dark history. That began when in 1907, Dr. Henry Cotton became the medical director of the hospital. D.r Cotton's main belief was that all mental illness stemmed from untreated infections of the body. This methodology is what sparked torturous and experimental procedures to be performed at this state facility.
Cotton began to experiment on patients by removing their teeth, as he believed teeth harbored infections. If no improvement in mental health was seen, their tonsils would then be removed. Dr. Cotton removed many organs at random in patients at the facility. He removed testicles, ovaries, gall bladders, stomachs, spleens, cervixes, and an astonishing amount of colons. He reported to the public that 85% of patients that underwent this were cured of their mental illness. This was a lie, close to 45% of patients who saw Dr. Cotton died shortly after. Many died from an infection of the experimental surgeries and complications of the removal of a vital organ. When this information came to the public, Cotton retired from the state hospital in 1930.
