Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

 

 

Location: Asylum Drive, Weston, WV   Map

Constructed: 1858-1881

Area: 26.5 acres (10.7 ha)

Closed: May 1994

Ghost Tours

 

History of Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

Trans- Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is situated at Asylum Drive, Weston, West Virginia in United States. In the 19th century society in United States began to shift its views on treatment of individuals with mental issues and challenges. In the middle of the century Thomas Kirkbride developed a theory of construction of a Sanatorium with supportive and curative environment for the patients. Over 300 such facilities were constructed across the country. Trans- Allegheny Sanatorium became one such facility.

 

History

XIX century
The hospital was chartered by the Virginia General Assembly in the early 1850s as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.8 After consulting Thomas Story Kirkbride, then superintendent of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, Richard Snowden Andrews (1830-1903 ), a Baltimore architect who had completed other commissions, including the Maryland Governor's Residence in Annapolis and the South Wing of the United States Treasury Building, designed a building in the Gothic Revival and Neo-Tudor styles.9 Construction on site , along the West Fork River across from downtown Weston, began in late 1858. In November of that year, a local newspaper noted that "seven convict Negroes" were the first to arrive to work on the project. Later skilled stonemasons were brought in from Germany and Ireland.

Construction was interrupted by the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Following its secession from the United States, the Virginia government demanded the return of unused construction funds for the hospital for its defense. Before this occurred, the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry seized money from a local bank and turned it over in Wheeling. It went towards the establishment of the Reorganized Government of Virginia, which sided with the northern states during the war. The Reorganized Government appropriated money to resume construction in 1862.

Upon West Virginia's admission as a state of the United States in 1863, the hospital was renamed West Virginia Hospital for the Insane. The first patients were admitted in October 1864, but construction continued until 1881. The 200-foot (61 m) central clock tower was completed in 1871, and separate rooms for blacks were completed in 1873. The hospital was intended to to be self-sufficient, and a farm, a dairy, a water factory and a cemetery were located on its land,8 which eventually reached 666 acres (270 ha) in area.

At that time, patients were admitted to the asylum for various reasons, such as asthma, laziness, selfishness, domestic problems and even greed. This led to an overwhelming number of patients being admitted, leaving the asylum facing a shortage of staff and beds.

Twentieth century
In 1902 a gas well was drilled on the hospital grounds. In 1913 its name was changed again to Weston State Hospital.

Originally designed to house 250 patients in solitude, the hospital housed 717 patients in 1880; 1,661 in 1938; more than 1,800 in 1949; at its peak, 2,600 in the 1950s in cramped conditions. A 1938 report by a committee of inquiry organized by a group of American medical organizations concluded that the hospital housed among its population "epileptics, alcoholics, drug addicts, and the ineducably mentally deficient." A series of reports published by The Charleston Gazette in 1949 revealed poor sanitary conditions and inadequate furnishings, lighting and heating in much of the complex, while one wing, which had been rebuilt with funds from the Works Progress Administration after a fire caused by a patient in 1935, was comparatively luxurious.

The lack of adequate care and access to healthcare led to a large number of deaths in the asylum. Although no official count of the patients who died at the asylum is available, historians have estimated the number to be between 400 and 500.

Weston State Hospital became the home of the West Virginia Lobotomy Project in the early 1950s. It was an effort by the state and Walter Freeman to use lobotomy to reduce the number of patients in asylums, as there was severe overcrowding.

In the 1980s, the hospital had a reduced population due to changes in the treatment of mental illness. Patients who could not be controlled used to be locked in cages. In February 1986, then-Governor Arch Moore announced plans to build a new psychiatric facility elsewhere in the state and convert Weston Hospital into a prison. Eventually, the new facility, William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital, was built in Weston, and the old Weston State Hospital simply closed in May 1994. Since then, the building and its grounds have been mostly empty, apart from local events such as fairs, religious observances, and guided tours. In In 1999, all four floors of the building's interior were damaged by several paintball-playing city and county police officers, three of whom were fired over the incident.

Efforts to reuse the building include proposals to convert it into a Civil War Museum8 and a hotel and golf complex. In 2000, a 501(c) non-profit organization was formed, the Weston Hospital Revitalization Committee, in order to assist in the upkeep of the building and find suitable tenants.

XXI century
Three small museums dedicated to military history, toys, and mental health opened in 2004 on the first floor of the main hospital building, but were soon forced to close due to fire code violations.

The hospital was auctioned off by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources on August 29, 2007. Joe Jordan, an asbestos demolition contractor from Morgantown, was the highest bidder, paying $1.5 million for the hospital building. 22,500 m². Bidding started at $500,000. Joe Jordan has also started maintenance projects on the old hospital grounds. In October 2007, a fall party was held at Weston State Hospital. Historical and paranormal guided daytime tours were offered, as well as nightly ghost hunts and paranormal tours.

The main building of the asylum, known as the Kirkbride, houses several rooms that serve as a museum, located on the first floor. There are paintings, poems and drawings made by patients in the art therapy programs, a room dedicated to the different medical treatments and restraints used in the past, and artifacts such as a straitjacket and a hydrotherapy tub. The tour guides dress in clothing reminiscent of 19th century nurse costumes: blue dress, white apron, white cap and white shoes. The shorter historical tour offer allows visitors to see the first floor of the Kirkbride, while the longer historical tour allows visitors to see all four floors, the staff apartments, the morgue and the operating room. In addition to the historical tours, there are also two paranormal tours. Both start when the sun goes down, the shorter one lasts between two and three hours, and the longer one takes place overnight with the option of a private tour.