Human Services Center
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Human Services Center
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The Hospital as seen from the south, showing the power plant, the administration and the water tower.
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| Location | Off US 81, Yankton, South Dakota |
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| Coordinates | 42°54′52″N 97°25′40″W / 42.91444°N 97.42778°WCoordinates: 42°54′52″N 97°25′40″W / 42.91444°N 97.42778°W |
| Built | 1882 |
| Architect | Mead,Dr. Leonard C. |
| Architectural style | Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Late Victorian |
| MPS | Northern and Central Townships of Yankton MRA |
| NRHP Reference # | 80003771 |
| Added to NRHP | April 16, 1980 |
The Human Services Center in Yankton, South Dakota is a psychiatric hospital that was built in 1882. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
It was included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2009 list of America's Most Endangered Places. "Founded in 1879 as the South Dakota Hospital for the Insane, the institution’s collection of neo-Classical, Art Deco and Italianate buildings have long stood vacant, and the state plans to tear down 11 of them."
The institution's name has been changed several times from South Dakota State Hospital for the Insane to South Dakota Lunatic Asylum to South Dakota State Hospital, to Yankton State Hospital.
In 1879, Governor William A. Howard considered the cities of Vermillion, Elk Point, and Canton when he finally decided on Yankton. Yankton is situated on the Missouri River and was at that time the capital of the sparsely-settled Dakota Territory (encompassing present-day North and South Dakota). The hospital was constructed at a total cost of $2,286.85. During the first six months 31 patients were admitted. In 1880, 50 patients caused overcrowding, and the hospital was also understaffed. The population of Yankton was over 3,400, a remarkable increase from the less than 50 in 1859. In 1899, a devastating fire took the lives of seventeen women patients. This led the legislature to seriously consider giving much needed funds to the hospital. This led them to build new smaller buildings, taking precautions to make the walls fireproof, and the rooms for the patients were made much smaller.
In 1918, the name of the hospital was officially changed from Dakota Hospital for the Insane to the Yankton State Hospital. This was done because of complaints that the original name had a derogatory connotation and other types of patients such as alcoholics, drug addicts, and epileptics were also housed there. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the institution and the rest of the nation, went through a very difficult period. An increasing rate of admissions combined with a decreasing budget due to the Great Depression. Overcrowding was a serious problem in the mid and late 1930s. However, incoming patients were released within a few months, due to updates in healthcare, thus helping to ease the overcrowding problem.
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