Worcester State Hospital
1833- Present
Worcester, Massachusetts
History
Bloomingdale Asylum or Worcester Lunatic Asylum was Massachusetts first Hospital of its kind in the state. Opened January 12th 1833 in Worcester Massachusetts to serve people with mental illness. Over the years the facility could no longer support the increasing number of patients and a new facility needed to be built. In 1870 construction begin on the new Worcester State Hospital. This time it was constructed in the Kirkbride Plan like her sister hospitals Taunton and Danvers. Its most memorable feature is the central administration buildings clock tower. With over crowding becoming an issue again the state legislator decided they needed another institution. The Kirkbride served its purpose for more than 100 years before they moved all the patients out to a more updated facility on the property. In the summer of July 1991, the old Kirkbride building caught fire destroying more then 2/3's of the complex. The center and right wings of the hospital were completely lost while two wards of the left wing remained with the admin building. In 2008 the rest of the complex was taken down to make way for a new hospital. The clock tower was saved but was been rebuilt to honor the old Kirkbride.
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