Danville State Hospital

Hospital in Pennsylvania, United States

Danville State Hospital

Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

State hospital, Danville, Pennsylvania, between 1930 and 1945

Geography
Location| Danville, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates| 40°56′56″N 76°35′46″W﻿ / ﻿40.949°N 76.596°W﻿ / 40.949; -76.596
Organization
Funding| State
Type| Psychiatric
Links
Website| Danville State Hospital
Lists| Hospitals in Pennsylvania
| Danville State Hospital

General information
Construction started| April 13, 1868
Opened| 1869
Renovated| 1881
Technical details
Material| Brick, stone, stucco
Design and construction
Architect(s)| John McArthur Jr.

Danville State Hospital in Danville, Pennsylvania is a mental health facility operated by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. It was Pennsylvania's third public facility to house the mentally ill and disabled.

## History

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Danville State Hospital for the mentally ill, located one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Danville, Pennsylvania, opened in 1872 as the "State Hospital for the Insane at Danville". The hospital's Main Building, which was designed by John McArthur Jr., was a Kirkbride Plan hospital building. By September 30, 1873, 138 male and 72 female patients had been admitted for treatment.[1] The land on which Danville State Hospital stands today was originally a tract owned by pioneer Daniel Montgomery, co-founder (with his father) of Danville and for whom the town was named. The 250 acres (1.0 km2) were bought for $26,600 and Danville citizens backed the project by contributing $16,123.12 of that total.

Nine years after the new hospital opened its doors to patients it experienced a large scale fire which completely gutted the interior of the administration section, all of the female wards, and part of the male wards. The fire happened on March 5, 1881, between 8 and 9 pm on a Saturday evening. Reportedly, the fire was said to have originated from an explosion of gas in one of the rooms on the second floor of the female wing. Rebuilding the hospital would take another five years. During the rebuilding, the male wards that were not damaged by the fire remained open.[2]

Between 1900 and the 1950s, additional land was purchased and many new buildings were constructed. The hospital received full approval of the Central Inspection Board of the American Psychiatric Association for excellence in patient care. The patient population showed a steady increase up to November 1955, when the figure reached 2,801.[1] Since that time, a gradual planned reduction has occurred. As a result, the census in 1968 was 1,899, and on June 30, 2002, the hospital census stood at 147. This is in keeping with the modern philosophy of treating patients in the least restrictive setting. In 1976, a Long Term Care Facility (Licensed Nursing Home) was opened to address the needs of geriatric patients who no longer were considered to be in need of psychiatric care. The Long Term Care Facility closed on May 12, 1998.

Since 1985, this hospital has had full accreditation from JCAHO, Medicare, and Medical Assistance. The last JCAHO Survey was March 2003, and received a three-year accreditation.[1]

As of January 31, 2008, Danville State Hospital had 163 patients.

## Notable patients

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* Edith May (1827–1903), pseudonym of American poet Anne Drinker

## See also

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* Pennsylvania portal

* Kirkbride Plan
* Danville, Pennsylvania
* List of hospitals in Pennsylvania

## References

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1. ^ a b c \- Pennsylvania DPW Archived June 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
2. ^ \- Danville State Hospital Dedicated Website

## External links

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* Official PA DHS Danville Website
* Danville State Hospital \- History, past and present photos, and timeline.

* v
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* e

Pennsylvania State Hospitals

* Allentown
* Clarks Summit
* Danville
* Dixmont
* Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute
* Embreeville
* Farview
* Harrisburg
* Haverford
* Hollidaysburg
* Lawrence Frick
* Marcy
* Mayview
* Norristown
* Pennhurst
* Philadelphia
* Retreat
* Scranton
* Somerset
* South Mountain Restoration Center
* Torrance
* Warren
* Wernersville
* Woodville

Italics indicates facilities no longer in operation as state psychiatric hospitals.

* v
* t
* e

The Kirkbride Plan

People|

| Physicians|

Thomas Story Kirkbride

|

Advocates|

Dorothea Dix

Architects|

* Samuel Sloan
* Elbridge Boyden
* Nathaniel Bradlee
* John G. Haskell
* Levi Scofield
* Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge
* Richard Snowden Andrews

Notable buildings|

| Northeast|

* New Jersey State Hospital
* Harrisburg State Hospital
* Taunton State Hospital
* Northampton State Hospital
* Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital
* Dixmont State Hospital
* Hudson River State Hospital
* Danville State Hospital
* Buffalo State Hospital
* Warren State Hospital
* Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital
* Worcester State Hospital
* Danvers State Hospital

|

Mid-Atlantic|

* St. Elizabeths Hospital
* Central State Hospital (Virginia)
* Spring Grove Hospital Center

Midwest|

* Central State Hospital (Indiana)
* Jacksonville State Hospital
* Dayton State Hospital
* Wisconsin State Hospital
* Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital
* Mount Pleasant State Hospital
* St. Peter State Hospital
* Anna State Hospital
* Elgin State Hospital
* Osawatomie State Hospital
* Topeka State Hospital
* Winnebago State Hospital
* Independence State Hospital
* Athens Lunatic Asylum
* Columbus State Hospital
* Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane
* Kankakee State Hospital
* Clarinda State Hospital
* Northern Michigan Asylum
* Nevada State Hospital
* Cherokee Mental Health Institute
* Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center

South|

* Western State Hospital
* Jackson State Hospital
* Austin State Hospital
* Bryce Hospital
* Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
* Central State Hospital (Kentucky)
* Broughton Hospital
* Arkansas State Hospital
* Terrell State Hospital

West Coast|

* Agnews State Hospital
* Eastern Oregon State Hospital
* Eastern Washington State Hospital
* Mendocino State Hospital
* Napa State Hospital
* Oregon State Hospital
* Patton State Hospital

Outside the U.S.|

* Nova Scotia Hospital
* Callan Park Hospital for the Insane

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States

Other|

* Yale LUX

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