A Psychiatric Milestone: Bloomingdale Hospital Centenary, 1821-1921
History
A Psychiatric Milestone: Bloomingdale Hospital Centenary, 1821-1921
Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane; Mental illness
In this retired and ideal spot the work of Bloomingdale Hospital was
successfully prosecuted for three-quarters of a century. But the seven
miles that separated it from the old hospital was steadily built over,
and before fifty years had gone the growth of the city had passed the
asylum grounds. Foreseeing that they could not maintain that verdant
oasis intact for many years longer, the Governors, in 1868, bought this
300-acre tract on the outskirts of the Village of White Plains. After
prolonged consideration of the time and method of development of the
property, final plans were adopted in December, 1891, construction was
begun May 1, 1892, and two years later, under the direction of our
Medical Superintendent, Dr. Samuel B. Lyon, all the patients were moved
from the old to this new Bloomingdale. The cost of the new buildings was
about $1,500,000. From time to time the original Bloomingdale site was
sold and now supplies room, among other structures, for Columbia
University, Barnard College, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St.
Luke's Hospital, the Woman's Hospital, and the National Academy of
Design. With the proceeds of those sales of the old Bloomingdale, not
only was the cost of the new Bloomingdale met, but the permanent
endowment of the Society was substantially increased, and Thomas Eddy
was proved to have been both a wise humanitarian and a far-sighted
steward of charitable funds.
In their "Address to the Public" to which I have referred, issued when
Bloomingdale Hospital was opened in 1821, the Governors of the Society
spoke of the new conception of moral treatment of the mentally afflicted
which had been established in several European hospitals and which was
supplanting the harsh and cruel usage of former days, as "one of the
noblest triumphs of pure and enlightened benevolence." In that same
spirit those founders dedicated themselves to the conduct of this
institution. Their devotion to the work was impressive. Looking back on
those early days we see a constant personal attention to the details of
institutional life that commands admiration. The standards then set have
become a tradition that has been preserved unbroken for a hundred years.
Humane methods of care, the progressively best that medical science can
devise, the utilization of a growingly productive pursuit of research,
have consistently marked the administration of this great trust. The
Governors of to-day are as determined as any of their predecessors to
maintain that ideal of "pure and enlightened benevolence." New paths are
opening and larger resources are becoming available. Under the guidance
of our distinguished Medical Superintendent, with his able and devoted
staff of physicians, a broader and more intensive development is
already under way. Animated by that resolve and cheered by that
prospect, we may thus confidently hope, as we begin the second century
of Bloomingdale's career, for results not less fruitful and gratifying
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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