The St. Lawrence State Hospital at Ogdensburg, N.Y., is a center of
public, professional, philanthropic, and legislative interest. Though
projected in advance of the adoption of the system of State care for the
insane, it was opened at a time to make it come under close observation
in relation to the question of State care, and the friends of this
departure from the inefficient, often almost barbarous provisions of
county house confinement could have no better example to point the
excellence of their theories than this new and progressively planned
State hospital. The members of the State Lunacy Commission and Miss
Schuyler and her colleagues of the State Charities Aid Society, who
fought the State care bills through the Legislature this winter and in
1890, would be repaid for all of their trouble by contrasting the
condition of the inmates of the St. Lawrence State Hospital with the
state they were in under their former custodians, the county officers of
the northern New York counties. At the best, even when these officials
realized the responsibility of their charge and were actuated by humane
impulses, the county houses offered no chance of remedial treatment.
Custody and maintenance, the former mainly a reliance on force, the
later often of scant provision, were the sum total of what was deemed
necessary for the lunatics. In their new environment they find
everything as different in accommodations and treatment as the word
hospital in the title of the institution is different in sound and
significance from the hope-dispelling, soul-chilling names of "asylum,"
"mad house," and "bedlam" formerly given to all retreats for the
mentally afflicted. They find, and it is an encouraging feature of the
plan that so many of them quickly see and appreciate it, that they are
considered as sufferers from disease and not from demoniacal possession.
The remarkable range of classification provided for, the adaptability of
construction to the different classifications, the reliance on
occupation, the dependence on treatment, and the subordination of the
custodial feature, except where a wise conservatism demands its
retention, are apparent alike to inmates and visitors.
This hospital is complete as to plans, and as to the power plant,
drainage, and subway construction necessary for the 1,500 patients, that
the legislature has provided for in its law establishing the
institution. Buildings are already finished and occupied that
accommodate 200 inmates, and the contractors have nearly finished part
of the central group that will bring that number up to nearly 1,300. The
appropriation asked for this year by the managers will be scaled down
considerably by Mr. McClelland, the very economical chairman of the Ways
and Means Committee of the Democratic Assembly. But, unless he has
miscalculated, there will be money enough to carry on the work of
construction to advantage for the year. An appropriation sufficient to
complete the buildings at once was thought by many to be the wisest
economy, but big figures in an appropriation bill have very little
chance this year. The bill establishing the State Hospital district and
providing for the building of the institution fixed the per capita cost
of construction, including the purchase of land, at $1,150, and the
plans have been made on that basis for 1,500 patients. But if the needs
of the district should require it, the capacity could be increased by an
almost indefinite extension of the system of outlying colony groups at a
very small per capita cost, as the central group is by far the most
expensive in construction.
The administration group in part, and one outlying group, with the
general kitchen, bakery, workshop, laundry, employes' dwelling house,
power house, and pumping station, are already erected, and have added a
feature of architectural beauty to Point Airy. This point, of itself of
picturesque and romantic beauty, juts into the St. Lawrence River at the
head of the Galoup Rapids, three miles below Ogdensburg. It is a part of
the hospital farm of 950 acres, which includes woodland, meadow, farm
land, and a market garden tract of the $100 an acre grade. The location
of the institution in these particulars and in reference to salubrity,
sewerage facilities and abundance and excellence of water supply, is
wonderfully advantageous.
In planning the hospital Dr. P.M. Wise, who has since become its medical
superintendent, aimed to take the utmost advantage of the scenic and
hygienic capabilities of the site, and to improve on all previous
combinations of the two general divisions of a mixed asylum--a hospital
department for the concentration of professional treatment, and a
maintenance department for the separate care of the chronic insane. He
was anxious to secure as much as possible of the compactness and ease of
administration of the linear plan of construction, with wings on either
side of the executive building of long corridors occupied as day rooms,
with sleeping rooms opening out of them on both sides. But he wanted to
avoid the depressing influence of this monotonous structure, as the
better results of variety and increased opportunities of subdivision and
classification are well recognized. He was not, however, prepared to
accept wholly that abrupt departure from the linear plan known as the
"cottage plan," which in some institutions has been carried to the
extreme of erecting a detached building for every ward. The climate of
St. Lawrence county forbade this. Her winters are as vigorous as those
of her Canadian neighbors, even as her people are almost as ebullient in
their politics as the vigorous warring liberals and conservatives across
the river. And there are features of the linear plan that can only be
left out of our asylum structure at the expense of efficiency. Other
rules that he formulated from his experience were that a building for
the insane should never exceed two stories in height; that fire proof
construction and at least two stairways from the upper floors should be
provided; that day rooms should be on the first and sleeping rooms on
the second floor; that all buildings for the insane who suffer from
sluggish and enfeebled circulation of the blood should be capable of
being warmed to 70° in the coldest weather; that ample cubic space and
ventilation should be provided; and that, as far as possible, without
too great increase of the cost of maintenance or sacrificing essential
provisions for treatment and necessary restraint, asylums should aim to
reproduce the conditions of domestic life.
[Illustration: THE ST. LAWRENCE HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE.]
State Architect Isaac G. Perry planned the St. Lawrence State Hospital
buildings on ideas suggested by medical experience, with a breadth of
comprehension and a technical skill in combining adaptability, utility,
and beauty that have accomplished wonders. The buildings are
satisfactory in every particular to every one who has seen them, and
even the most casual observer is impressed with the effect of beauty.
This was accomplished without elaboration of material, expressive
carving or finish. The ornamentation is purely structural and is
obtained by a handling of the materials of construction which also
yielded the largest promise of strength and durability.
The central hospital group, of which an idea is given in the cut, now
consists of five buildings. The picture shows three, the center one and
two of the flanking cottages on one side. They are matched on the other
side. The central or administration building is a three story structure
of Gouverneur marble, and, like all of the stone used, a native St.
Lawrence county stone. The marble's bluish gray is relieved by sparkling
crystallizations, and its unwrought blocks are handled with an
ornamental effect in the piers, lintels, and arches, and well set off by
a simple high-pitched slate roof, with terra-cotta hiprolls, crestings,
and finials. The open porches are both ornamental and useful, taking the
place of piazzas. The tower is embellished with a terra-cotta frieze.
All accommodations for an executive staff for the 1,500 patients may be
provided in this building.
Behind it on the south is a one story building whose ground plan is the
segment of a circle. It contains sun rooms, medical offices, general
library, laboratory and dispensary, and the corridor connecting the
reception cottages, one for women, on one side, and one for men on the
other, with the administration building. As this one story structure is
171 feet by 41, the buildings known as cottages of the central group are
more than nominally separated. All the advantages of segregation and
congregation are combined.
The reception cottages are of pale red Potsdam sandstone. Their simple
construction is pleasing. The ground plan is in the form of a cross; the
angles of the projections being flanked by heavy piers between which are
recessed circular bays carried up to the attic and arched over in the
gables. The cross plan affords abundant light to all the rooms, and as
much of the irregular outline as possible is utilized with piazzas. With
still another recourse to the combination corridor plan, the observation
cottages are joined to the reception cottages on each side. The other
utilization of the corridor in this case is for conservatories. The
observation cottages are irregular in plan and vary from each other and
from the other buildings in the group. Unwrought native bluestone is the
building material. These cottages contain a preponderance of single
rooms, the purpose being to keep patients separate until their
classification is decided upon.
The buildings planned but not yet constructed of the central group
include two cottages for convalescents and two one-story retreats for
noisy and disturbed patients. In both cases the plans are the most
complete and progressive ever made. In the first the degree of
construction is reduced to the minimum. Convalescents are to have
freedom from the irritations of hospital life that often retard
recovery. Great reliance is placed upon that important element in
treatment, the rousing of a hopeful feeling in the mind of the patient.
The retreat wards, with accommodations in each wing for eighteen
patients, show in this particular how little the old method of strict
confinement is to be employed in the new institution. That proportion of
the total insane population of 1,500 is regarded as all that it is
necessary to sequester to prevent the disturbance of the rest. Hollow
walls, sleeping room windows opening into small areas, and corridor
space between the several divisions are features which make the per
capita cost of the construction comparatively large for these two
cottages, but which, it is believed, will prove to be wise ones.
All of these buildings are as complete from a hospital standpoint as can
possibly be devised. Outer walls wind and moisture proof, and inner
walls of brick, with an absolutely protected air space between, insure
strength and warmth. An interior wall finish of the hardest and most
non-absorbent materials known for such uses is a valuable hygienic
provision, and both safety and salubrity are further conserved by an
absence of any hollow spaces between floors and ceilings, or in stud
partitions. No vermin retreats, no harbors for rodents, no channels for
flame exist. Heating is accomplished by indirect radiation with the
steam supply from the power house, but there are many open fireplaces to
add to the complete stack and flue system of ventilation.
Attached to the central group and completed are the kitchen building,
the laundry building and a dwelling house for employes, which are so
disposed in the rear of the group as to make a courtyard of value for
the resort of patients, as the main buildings protect and shelter it.
These buildings are ample for their work when the institution's full
capacity is attained. The kitchen building is a particularly interesting
one. All of the cooking is to be done there, and a system of subways,
with tracks on which food cars are run, connects it with all of the
groups. An idea of the magnitude of kitchen plans for such an
institution may be got from one single fact. The pantry is a lofty room,
20x32 feet.
The calculation that 80 per cent. of the insane of the district would be
in the chronic stages of the disease explains the provision in detached
cottage groups for this proportion of the patients. A great proportion
of these are feeble and helpless, requiring constant attendance night
and day, but attendance that can be given cheaply and efficiently in
associate day rooms, dining rooms and large dormitories. Detached group
No. 1, which is completed, is an infirmary group for patients of both
sexes of this class. It is chiefly one story in height, and the plan
permits an abundance of sunlight and air for every room.
Detached group No. 2 is intended for 185 men of the chronic insane
class, who require more than ordinary care and observation. Detached
group No. 3 is composed of two-story buildings for 322 women. It has
several large work-shops. Occupation is one of the main reliances of the
planners of the institution as a part of the treatment there.
Detached group No. 4 is designed for both men and women, and will
accommodate 150. A wholly different classification is here provided for,
the actively industrious classes being intended for this group. Those
who are able to do outdoor work, and for whom some diverting employment
will be beneficial in making them contented and physically healthy, will
live here. There is complete separation of day rooms, but the two sexes
will dine together in an associate hall.
An amusement hall to harmonize with the central group, and to be built
adjacent to it, is planned, and will be built this year if the
appropriation will permit. It is a valuable and necessary adjunct to the
other provisions for the care of a population of 1,500. Accommodations
for entertainments, chapel exercises, dancing and a bathing
establishment are included in the plans in a way that gives great
results with great economy of construction.
Probably the feature in the scheme of the St. Lawrence State Hospital of
the greatest popular and professional interest is Dr. Wise's plan to
have there an Americanized and improved Gheel. The original Gheel in
Belgium is a colony where for many years lunatics have been sent for
domiciliary care. Its inhabitants, mostly of the peasant class, have
grown accustomed to the presence and care of patients with disordered
minds. The system is the outgrowth of a superstition founded in the
presumed miraculous cure of a lunatic whose reason was restored by the
shock of the sight of the killing of a beautiful girl by her pursuing
father, whose fury had been roused by her choice of a husband. A
monument to this unfortunate graces Gheel, and as St. Dymphna she is
supposed to be in benign control of the lunatic-sheltering colony. Some
of the features of the Gheel system of care are also distinctively known
as the Scotch system. There the placing of patients in family care is
common. Massachusetts has also adopted it to a considerable extent. But
there are many objections to family care in isolated domiciles, as
practiced in Massachusetts. Special medical attention and official
visits are made expensive and inconvenient. Dr. Wise plans to get all
the advantages of such a mode of life for patients whose condition
retrogrades under institutional influence. Not the least of these
advantages is that of economy in relieving the State from the per capita
cost of construction for at least one-fourth of the insane of the
district. He would utilize the families in the settlement which always
grows up in the vicinity of a large hospital. It is composed of the
households of employes, many of which are the result of marriages among
the attendants and employes. On Point Airy, by the use of the buildings
that were on the different plots bought by the State to make up the
hospital farm, such a settlement can be easily made up. Its inhabitants
would pay rent to the State. They would be particularly fit and proper
persons to board and care for patients whose condition was suitable for
that sort of a life, and the patients could have many privileges and
benefits not possible in the hospital. Point Airy's little Gheel on such
a plan would be a most interesting and valuable extension of the
beneficent rule of St. Dymphna.
The St. Lawrence State Hospital was built and is operated under the
supervision of a board of managers, whose fidelity to it is described as
phenomenal by the people of Ogdensburg. The members of the executive
committee, Chairman William L. Proctor, Secretary A.E. Smith, John
Hannan and George Hall, especially Mr. Proctor and Mr. Smith, have given
as much time and attention to it as most men would to a matter in which
they had a business interest. The result has been a performance of
contract obligations in which the State got its money's worth. The
people of Ogdensburg, too, have taken a great interest in the
institution. Such men as Mayor Edgar A. Newell, ex-Collector of the Port
of New York Daniel Magone, Postmaster A.A. Smith, Assemblyman George R.
Malby, and his predecessor, Gen. N.M. Curtis, who was the legislative
father of the hospital scheme; Frank Tallman and Amasa Thornton take as
much pride in the institution that the State has set down at the gates
of their city as they do in their cherished and admired city hall, which
combines a tidy little opera house with the quarters necessary for all
public and department uses.
The executive staff of the hospital consists of Dr. P.M. Wise, medical
superintendent; Dr. J. Montgomery Mosher, assistant: Dr. J.A. Barnette
and Steward W.C. Hall.--_N.Y. Sun_.
* * * * *