Racine County Insane Asylum
The Racine County Insane Asylum was a mental hospital, operated by the County of Racine, Wisconsin, from 1889 to the 1970s.
History
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The first insane patients were admitted to the Racine county poorhouse in 1855. The construction of a separate building for the insane was approved by the county board of supervisors on November 26, 1888. The asylum admitted its first three patients on December 18, 1889.[1] By 1904, the hospital housed 133 patients.[2] On February 19 of that year, the building was destroyed in a fire.[3][4] The asylum was rebuilt quickly after the fire, and a home for the county poor was added to the facility in 1918.[5] The institution was also known as the Gatliff Asylum and was served by the Gatliff stop on the railroad.[6][7] Gatliff was named after Nelson Gatliff (1813–1898), an early pioneer in Racine County who owned extensive farmland.[8] The facility was also used as a tuberculosis sanatorium.[9] Later it was known as High Ridge Hospitals[10] and High Ridge Health Care Center of Racine County.[11] It was closed on October 1, 1986, at which time the approximately 210 residents who were there were moved to the new Ridgewood Health Care Center.[12] Asbestos removal in, then demolition of, High Ridge Health Care Center began in October 1988, to be completed by early 1989.[13] The site is now a retail development known as High Ridge Centre, with only the old duck pond remaining from the former asylum.[14][failed verification]
References
[edit]- ^ "Racine County Insane Asylum". The Milwaukee Journal, October 30, 1890, p. 1.
- ^ Stone, Fanny S. Racine, Belle City of the Lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin. Racine: S. J. Clarke, 1916.
- ^ "Insane Asylum Burned". Boston Evening Transcript, February 20, 1904, p. 1.
- ^ "Insane Asylum Burned". Providence News, February 20, 1904, p. 4.
- ^ "Building Boom for Wisconsin". The Milwaukee Journal, November 24, 1918, p. 1.
- ^ "Mad Patients Out in the Cold". Three Rivers Tribune, February 25, 1904, p. 3.
- ^ The History of Racine Wisconsin.
- ^ Racine Journal, April 14, 1903, p. 9.
- ^ The Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the American Medical Association, "Survey of Tuberculosis Hospitals and Sanatoriums in the United States". Journal of the American Medical Association, 1935 105(23):1855-1915.
- ^ Mental Health Services Information and Referral Directory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Ready Reference Press, 1978, p. 154.
- ^ American Hospital Association Guide to the Health Care Field. Chicago: American Hospital Association, 1976, p. 234.
- ^ "Volunteers Sought for Center Move". The Journal-Times. September 9, 1986. Retrieved October 26, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Matthews, John (November 24, 1988). "High Ridge Demolition to Begin". The Journal Times. Retrieved October 26, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ DLC Management Corp.: High Ridge Centre, with map.