A Call for a New Asylum
Legislative committee finds territorial asylum buildings beyond repair, recommending a new site in Eastern Washington.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The House Committee on Hospital for Insane, to whom was referred that portion of the Governor's message relating to the above institution, have had the same under consideration. In company with the Council committee, we visited the Hospital for Insane and found everything in reasonably good order considering the condition of the buildings, which are old, unfit for the use, and in many places badly decayed. We would not recommend making an appropriation for the construction of a new building upon the old site. We recommend the construction of a new building to be erected convenient to some line of transportation, upon at least 400 acres of good agricultural land with good water facilities, and conveniently near timber, somewhere east of the Cascade Mountains.
“We found the buildings which are old, unfit for the use, and in many places badly decayed.”
This 1883 report highlights the struggle of maintaining institutional infrastructure in a rapidly growing territory. Today, Washington continues to debate the location and management of its state-run mental health facilities, reflecting a historical tension between centralizing services and serving disparate geographical regions.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.