Dexter Asylum
| Dexter Asylum | |
|---|---|
Library of Congress photo, taken April 1958 just before demolition
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| General information | |
| Status | Demolished |
| Type | Poorhouse and farm surrounded by a wall |
| Architectural style | Victorian |
| Location | Bounded by Hope Street, Stimson Avenue, Angell Street, Arlington Avenue and Lloyd Avenue |
| Town or city | Providence, Rhode Island |
| Named for | Ebenezer Knight Dexter |
| Construction started | 1824 |
| Completed | 1828 |
| Opened | 1828 |
| Closed | 1956 |
| Demolished | 1957 |
| Owner | City of Providence, Rhode Island |
| Grounds | 39 acres |
| Known for | Poor farm |
Coordinates: 41°49′51″N 71°23′51″W / 41.8308401°N 71.3974812°W Dexter Asylum was a "poor farm" on the East Side of Providence, Rhode Island. It was built in 1828 and housed poor, elderly, and mentally ill residents who could not otherwise take care of themselves. In 1957 it was sold via auction to Brown University and demolished for a complex of athletic fields and buildings.
Providence had no institution to care for the poor prior to the Dexter Asylum. People unable to support themselves would be taken care of in private homes by caretakers who bid for the job.
Ebenezer Knight Dexter was a wealthy mercantile trader in Providence. Upon his death in 1824, he bequeathed to the town his 40-acre Neck Farm on the East Side of Providence. Dexter stipulated in his will that a poor farm or almshouse must be built on the site within five years. In 1828, the Dexter Asylum was completed and opened, named for its benefactor.
The building itself was originally three stories high, and later expanded with a mansard roof and dormers.
The property was known as much for its unusual stone boundary wall as for the building itself. The specifications of the wall were detailed in Dexter's will, which required that the city build "a good, permanent stone wall of at least 3 feet thick at the bottom and at least 8 feet high and to be placed on a foundation of small stones as thick as the bottom wall and sunk 2 feet into the ground." It took eight years and $12,700 to complete the wall, which was over a mile long. It is unclear whether the purpose of the wall was to protect the privacy of asylum residents, or to protect the neighbors from seeing the downtrodden residents within.
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