jacksonville
state hospital
"...there
shall be established, within four miles of the town of Jacksonville,
county of Morgan, an institution to be known as the Illinois
State Hospital for the Insane..."
Much
credit goes to the efforts of Miss Dorothea L. Dix for the establishment
of the first facility in Illinois designed for the care of the
mentally ill. In her "Memorial to the Senate and House
of the Representatives of Illinois"she urged for the providence
of "appropriate care and support for the curable and incurable
indigent insane".
On
March 1, 1847 an act of the legislature was passed and a nine-member
board of trustees, was empowered to appoint a superintendent,
purchase land, and construct facilities in Jacksonville for
the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane.
Construction
of the buildings was begun in 1848. Although Miss Dix had expressed
interest that Jacksonville State Hospital be opened by 1949,
it wasn't until 1851, (under Superintendent Dr. James M. Higgins),
that two wards were ready for occupancy and the first patient,
(Sophronia McElhiney, McLean County) was admitted on November
3, 1851. All patients were to be maintained at state expense.
However, patients or their counties were expected to pay for
clothing, travel, and incidental expenses.
In
1869 the board of trustees was reduced to three members and
the newly created Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities
was given authority to investigate and report to the Governor
on conditions at the hospital. As additional hospitals for the
insane were established, the state was divided into districts
and the Jacksonville institution, renamed as the Illinois Central
Hospital for the Insane, assumed primary responsibility for
patients from the counties of central Illinois.
The
original plan of construction provided for a center building,
at Illinois State Hospital for the Insane, was based on the
Kirkbride Plan. The building erected was five and a half stories
high, with two wings extending in echelon from the center. Over
the years, these wings were greatly enlarged and numerous detached
buildings, or cottages, were added to provide a larger capacity
for the institution.
In
1909 the Board of Administration succeeded to the executive
and administrative responsibilities formerly exercised by the
trustees of all state charitable institutions. In addition to
appointing the managing officers of all state charitable institutions
the new full-time five-member board was required to visit and
inspect each institution under its jurisdiction. After investigating
the treatment given to inmates and examining physical facilities
and records, visiting board members made a report on institutional
conditions at the next board meeting. The Board of Administration
cooperated and consulted with the new Charities Commission which
assumed the functions of the Board of State Commissioners of
Public Charities and which had concurrent investigative authority
for the whole system of public charitable institutions in the
state
As
part of this reorganization, on January 1, 1910, Illinois State
Hospital for the Insane was renamed the Jacksonville State Hospital.
The change in name from "asylum" or "hospital
for the insane" to "state hospital" occurred
with several other similar facilities at this time and any hospital
established after this date was named as such. Seven years later,
the Civil Administrative Code of 1917 transferred jurisdiction
of the hospital to the Department of Public Welfare, where it
remained until the creation of the Department of Mental Health
in 1961.
From
1944 to 1974 the hospital participated in a departmental affiliation
program for psychiatric nursing which provided instruction in
psychiatric nursing to students from general hospital nursing
schools. The Psychiatric Nursing Affiliation Program offered
two-, three,- and four-month terms of classroom instruction
and practical training at Jacksonville State Hospital.
In
1961 the Department of Mental Health assumed responsibility
for Jacksonville State Hospital and all other state hospitals.
In 1974 it expanded the Jacksonville State Hospital's duties
to include treatment for the *developmentally disable d. To
reflect this change in function the institution's name became
the Jacksonville Mental Health and Developmental Center in 1975
and continues to function to this day as Jacksonville Developmental
Center.
Jacksonville
Developmental Center is located at 1201 South Main Street, Jacksonville,
Illinois. It's administration building, "Old Main",
is currently listed on the National Register of Historical Places,
although it was demolished in the 1970s.
*A
developmental disability is distinguished from other disabling
conditions in that it usually occurs before the affected person
reaches eighteen to twenty-two years of age and is attributable
to severe mental or physical impairments or combination of both.
It is a condition that is likely to continue indefinitely, and
so serious as to produce substantial functional limitations
on major life activity thus having a severe impact upon the
affected person to function independently in society. Developmental
disabilities may result from retardation, autism, cerebral palsy,
epilepsy or other physical and/or mental handicaps.
LINKS
JACKSONVILLE
STATE HOSPITAL PATIENTS 1854 - 1870
Information
on this page was obtained from these resources:
The
Simmons College Archives
300 The Fenway
Boston, MA 02115
http://www.simmons.edu/
Illinois
State Markers: First Illinois State Hospital for the Insane
http://www.historyillinois.org/frames/markers/84.htm
Illinois
State Archives
RECORD GROUP 252.000 - JACKSONVILLE MENTAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL
CENTER
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/di/252__002.htm
Illinois
History - Genealogy - Roots Web
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hallhistory/central_hospital_for_the_insane.htm
