The institutions of Massachusetts

1833: Worcester Insane Asylum opens

The Worcester Insane Asylum, also known as Worcester State Hospital and the Bloomingdale Asylum, was Massachusetts' first psychiatric facility.

1848: Massachusetts School for the Idiotic and Feeble Minded Youth opens

Samuel Gridley Howe founded the Massachusetts School for the Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth in South Boston with the aim to teach high-functioning disabled youths basic life skills in order to survive independently in society. It was the first institution for people with physical and intellectual disabilities in the United States. The facility moved out to a campus in Waltham in 1888 and its name was changed to the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center. 

1852: The State Almshouse at Monson opens

The State Almshouse at Monson opened in Palmer as an almshouse for impoverished children and the destitute. It later became the Massachusetts Hospital for Epileptics in 1895 and was renamed the Monson State Developmental Center in the 1960s when it began caring for the intellectually disabled.

1854: The Tewksbury Almshouse opens

The Tewksbury Almshouse opened as an almshouse for the destitute. By 1866, it began accepting the "pauper insane." In the 1870s, it added therapy programs for chronic alcoholics. By 1900, its name was changed to the Tewksbury State Hospital and Infirmary when it began to serve as a hospital for infectious diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis and typhoid.

1854: The State Lunatic Hospital at Taunton opens

The State Lunatic Hospital in Taunton was founded in Taunton to help relieve pressure from the Worcester Insane Asylum. From the 1930s, crisis centers, sick wards and juvenile facilities were added to the campus.

1858: Northampton State Hospital opens

The Northampton State Hospital opened in Northampton as a psychiatric hospital.  It was the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' third insane asylum following Taunton and Worcester.

1866: Bridgewater Almshouse for Paupers opens

The Bridgewater Almshouse for Paupers was established to care for the poor. By 1895, the facility began accepting the "criminally insane." In 1919, the facility was also serving as a prison. By 1959, the Bridgewater State Hospital had become a state hospital for the insane, a prison for alcoholics and drug addicts, a delinquent center for those over the age of 15 and a treatment center for men determined by the courts to be "sexually dangerous." Today it serves as a medium security facility housing male patients.

1878: The State Lunatic Asylum at Danvers opens

The State Lunatic Hospital at Danvers opened to provide residential treatment and care to the mentally ill. By the 1920s, the facility was also operating school clinics to determine mental deficiency in children.

1882: Long Island Hospital opens

The Long Island Hospital, located in the Boston Harbor, was opened as a residential and hospital facility for paupers. By the turn of the 20th century, it began to focus on the treatment of chronic diseases. In 1921 the almshouse was converted into a residence for unwed mothers and in 1941 it initiated a treatment program for alcoholics.

1884: Westborough Insane Hospital opens

The Westborough Insane Hospital opened in Worcester as a psychiatric facility. It is regarded as the first homeopathic state hospital in New England as its treatment of patients focused on rest, special diets and hydrotherapies. By the 1930s, the facility featured bacteriological and chemical laboratories and surgical departments for patients.

1889: Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates opens

The Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates opened in Foxborough to treat alcoholics. By 1910, the facility transitioned into a psychiatric hospital and was known as the Foxborough State Hospital. 

1892: Medfield Insane Asylum opens

The Medfield Insane Asylum opened in Medfield as a psychiatric hospital and was the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' first facility focused on caring for long-term, high-need chronic patients. 

1895: The Massachusetts Hospital for Consumptives and Tubercular Patients opens

The Massachusetts Hospital for Consumptives and Tubercular Patients was established in Rutland to treat patients suffering from tuberculosis. By the mid 20th century, the facility was called the Rutland Heights Hospital and was a designated hospital for chronic diseases. 

1899: The Templeton Farm Colony opens

Founded in rural Templeton through the efforts of Walter E. Fernald, the Superintendent of the Fernald School, the Templeton Farm Colony was a facility for the intellectually disabled. Patients participated in farm work as part of programs designed to provide productive working environments for intellectually disabled boys and men. 

1901: Grafton State Hospital opens

The Grafton State Hospital was established as a farm colony for "criminally insane" patients of the Worcester State Hospital. It was built to relieve overcrowding at the Worcester Hospital and to provide therapeutic work for patients. 

1902: The Gardner State Colony opens

The Gardner State Colony was a farm colony established to relieve overcrowding from other state hospitals and to provide treatment and custodial care for the "chronic insane."

1922: The Belchertown State School for the Feeble Minded opens

The Belchertown State School for the Feeble-Minded was the state's third institution dedicated to the care of the "feeble-minded." It was the only school for developmentally disabled children in Western Massachusetts. 

1927: The Metropolitan State Hospital opens

The Metropolitan State Hospital opened in Waltham as a hospital for the mentally ill and was designed to provide an institution that was more convenient to the Boston metropolitan area. It was the last large state hospital to be built in Massachusetts.