Norristown State Hospital

Norristown State Hospital
Administration Building Postcard
Geography
Location	Norristown, Pennsylvania, United States
Organization
Care system	Public
Hospital type	Mental Health
Services
History
Founded	1880
Links
Website	dpw.state.pa.us
Lists	Hospitals in Pennsylvania

Norristown State Hospital, originally known as the State Lunatic Hospital at Norristown, is an active psychiatric hospital located outside the city of Philadelphia in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Designed 1878–80, by Wilson Brothers & Company, it was the first institution in the country that recognized female physicians and the first to house a pathology department.

It serves the five counties of the Southeast Region of Pennsylvania: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia providing service to men and women in General Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry.

In May 1876, under Public Law 121, the Pennsylvania Legislature called for the establishment of a state mental hospital to serve the Southeastern District of Pennsylvania.

Ground was broken on March 12, 1878 after John Rice was appropriated a contract of $600,000 from the Legislature to construct seven wards, the administration building and to their supply the buildings to accommodate the overcrowding which was taking place in the insane wards of the Philadelphia Almshouse.

The construction was completed on February 17, 1879.

Situated on two hundred and sixty-five acres, the original design of the hospital was similar to the Kirkbride plan with echelons on both sides of the central administration building with two-story ward-buildings with two wards on each floor connected by covered passage ways. The kitchen, laundry and boiler house et al. sat directly behind administration. This model allowed for the separation of patients into areas based on their level of functioning.

From the main gate, a gradual rise in terrain brings the visitor to the entrance of the administration building as he is greeted with a tiled floor, ornamental brick wainscot, growing plants bringing verdure into winter and an electrically arranged clock – all showing a modern taste in architecture.

Roads and sewers were built and a large portion of the grounds were enclosed by an iron fence eight feet high. Barns and a root-house were also constructed. The sewage was emptied into Stony creek until it was found to be injurious.

Under the supervision of Dr. Robert H. Chase and Dr. Alice Bennett, the hospital received its first patient, a female, on July 12, 1880 along with groups of individuals who were admitted from other state hospitals and county almshouses.