Dixmont Hospital 2005   (Chris Collins / Flickr / CC-BY-SA-2.0)

Today we dip into the Western Pennsylvania Disability History and Action Consortium (WPDHAC) collections to look at the Dixmont Hospital records. Though no longer in existence, the hospital provides a valuable insight into the history of mental institutions.

Dixmont opened in 1862 in Kilbuck Township in northern Allegheny County as part of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital of Pittsburgh, which—chartered fourteen years earlier—was the first public hospital in Pittsburgh.
 
The new institution had ties to Dorothea Dix, a renowned social reformer who advocated for the humane treatment of those with mental illnesses. She was involved in the planning and funding of Dixmont, choosing the location where it was to be built; it was later named in her honor. A 2003 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article notes that she also spent time there as a guest of the superintendent in 1876.
 
 
Dorothea Dix, c. 1850-1855  Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

According to the finding aid for the University of Pittsburgh Library’s Dixmont records, Dixmont became its own entity in 1907 when it separated from West Penn Hospital. (A finding aid is an overview of what an archival collection is about and what it contains. You can see examples of finding aids by clicking on the links in the WPDHAC’s list of resources.) The Department of Public Welfare took over in 1945. At this point, Dixmont Hospital for the Insane became the Dixmont State Hospital.
 
It was built in Kirkbride style, an architectural and administrative style created by Thomas Story Kirkbride. He advocated for compassionate treatment of the mentally ill, and would later found the organization known today as the American Psychiatric Association.

  
Thomas Kirkbride, c. 1870 Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Kirkbride design consists of a central part of the building—the administrative center—flanked by wings housing male patients on one side and female patients on the other. As the hospital expanded in 1867 and 1870, wings were added slightly behind previous wings, creating a wiggly ‘V’ shape when seen from above.
 
  
An example of the Kirkbride style.  Pictured is Trenton State Hospital in New Jersey, now known as Trenton Psychiatric Hospital.. Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

This sprawling type of building required plenty of space. Such open grounds were thought to be beneficial for patients, giving them opportunities for fresh air and recreation in secluded areas removed from the rest of society. However, Dixmont’s 400 acres eventually housed over one thousand patients by the late 1800’s, putting a strain on the institution’s resources.
 
While a fair number of luxuries (such as gardens and a piano) existed, it’s unclear how many of these were open to patients and how many were intended solely for the enjoyment of physicians and administrative staff. In addition, patients who could pay for their stay were given better meals and other perks.
 
New facilities were built on Dixmont’s grounds in the 1950’s. These housed updated treatment centers that utilized new medical procedures, medications, and forms of therapy. Unfortunately, most of these did more harm than good and are the source of the horror stories many people think of when talking about mental health institutions.
 
In the early 1900’s, patients made their own clothes. They also made items—such as rugs—that were sold to fund the institution. Patients likely never received any sort of salary for their work. (This has been an ongoing issue; according to a 2014 report by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, individuals with mental illness suffer unemployment rates much higher than those affecting the general population.) 
 

Many patients were also buried on the hospital grounds, still in existence today.  © User:Destin / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0

Financial troubles plagued Dixmont for most of its existence and eventually resulted in its closure in July of 1984. Residents of the institution were transferred to other locations; the property then sat mostly unused for over a decade before being sold to Ralph Stroyne, whose own property sat on Dixmont’s border. He sold the land to a development firm; the main buildings of Dixmont were demolished in 2006. Plans to build a WalMart on the property fell through after landslides occurred.
 
It’s important to talk about the mental health institutions of the past as more than simple ghost stories. They provide a very real reminder of the ways in which society has sought earnestly to aid those with mental illnesses—and how we have excluded, neglected, and done harm in the process.
 
Mental health care today focuses on bringing individuals with mental illnesses (and other disabilities) into a community setting where they can advocate for themselves, work for fair wages, and live as a part of society—not apart from it. Through gathering and providing access to collections like the Dixmont records, WPDHAC hopes to open the eyes of readers like you to the advocacy that makes this possible.
  
References
 
Ackerman, Jan. “A mental hospital’s breakdown.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 20,
2003. http://old.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/20030420dixmont2.asp (accessed January 15, 2019).
 
Asylum Projects. 2009. “Kirkbride planned institutions.” Last modified September 18, 2012. http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php/Kirkbride_Planned_Institutions
 
Asylum Projects. 2010. “Thomas Story Kirkbride.” Last modified July 10, 2017. http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php/Thomas_Story_Kirkbride
 
“History.” DixmontHospital.com. September 19, 2006. Accessed January 15, 2019. http://dixmonthospital.com/History.html
 
History of Dixmont State Hospital, 1848-1949, Office of Mental Health, #5345, Department of Human Services, RG 023, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.
 
Diehl, Sita, Dania Douglas, and Ron Honberg. Road to Recovery: Employment and Mental Illness. Arlington: National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2014. Accessed January 19, 2019. https://www.nami.org/work
 
Records of Dixmont State Hospital, 1785-1998 (bulk 1910-1998), MSS# 329, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
 
Western Pennsylvania Hospital and Dixmont Hospital Records, 1848-1918, AIS.2003.08, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System.

Bridget Malley is WPDHAC’s Preservation Scholar, as well as a graduate student through the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and an intern with the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill Archives. A lifelong resident of Western Pennsylvania, she attended DePaul School for the Deaf as a child, later becoming a fourth-generation graduate of Seton Hill University. She's a community theater enthusiast and an occasional poet.