Worcester State Hospital - Main Building

hospitals, mental institutions

Worcester State Hospital was once known as the Worcester Lunatic Asylum and the Bloomingdale Asylum. Located on 305 Belmont Street, this hospital dates back to the 1830’s. It was on January 12, 1833 that the Worcester Insane Asylum held its grand opening. Overcrowding had become a problem, in order to fix this issue a new hospital was to be built. Construction of this building began in 1870 and opened in 1877. Between the 500 foot wings stood a clock tower. In July of 1991 a massive fire occurred on the Kirkbride building, destroying almost all of the roofs and floors. The administration building however and the right wing were saved. Worcester State Hospital still functions as a psychiatric facility in a large newer building located near the Kirkbride building. Even though the facility closed in 1991, operations still continue in the newer building. However in 2004 a proposal was brought about to build a totally new facility on the property and called for the remaining newer as well as older buildings to be torn down. The hospital threatens to close due to the fact that current patients had no air conditioning in the rooms. With the older buildings being torn down you can still visit the main one that is being used to house patients. They seem to have given the majority of the room’s air-conditioners which you can see in the pictures. Renovation is being done on the opposite side of the hospital to expand and create a newer institute. The administration and nurses buildings still remain intact as well. You can find the Worcester State Hospital located at 305 Belmont Street, if you keep driving you will soon hit route 9.

Sources:

[1] www.wikipedia.org
[2] www.opactity.us

Photographs taken March 2010

Maria Buonopane

Buonopane.Hospital1 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Buonopane.Hospital2 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Kirkbride Building

Other names: Bloomingdale Asylum, Worcester Lunatic Asylum

Buildings, hospitals

In 1833, the Worcester Lunatic Asylum became the first psychiatric facility of its kind in Massachusetts. It was originally used as a shelter for the insane but quickly became overcrowded. Forced to expand its size, the asylum called in Ward P. Delano in 1870 to build what was known as the four leveled Kirkbride building, shown in the picture, famous for its high clock tower. By 1877, at the completion of the new buildings, the facility found its new name as the Worcester State Hospital. The Hospital remained in use until 1991, when a large fire destroyed much of the Kirkbride building. Today the facility is not in use as a mental institution but either left abandoned or used by the Worcester Fire Department for training.

Ward P. Delano

Jon-Michael Condon

Kirkbridge Building by Jon-Michael Condon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License