State Plans Modernization for Steilacoom Asylum
Superintendent Dr. Calhoun proposes the 'cottage plan' to reform the state's mental health care, seeking land and modern equipment.
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If the legislature will provide the funds, the Steilacoom asylum will this year purchase 200 acres of land adjoining the institution and inaugurate the cottage plan of caring for the inmates. The males will be distributed in cottages over the place and given work to do on the farm instead of being kept housed up in the hospital as at present. The cottage plan works far more satisfactorily in insane asylums than the hospital and the superintendent wishes to try it in this state. In addition to more land, Dr. Calhoun wants a $5,000 or $10,000 residence for himself, a hydro-therapeutic plant, a larger dairy herd, new machinery in the laundry, a $4,000 refrigerator plant, and several new internes.
“The cottage plan works far more satisfactorily in insane asylums than the hospital and the superintendent wishes to try it in this state.”
The transition from centralized institutionalization to smaller, more autonomy-focused care facilities was a major 20th-century debate, mirroring today’s ongoing discussions about the most humane ways to manage public health and mental welfare.
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