Jump to content

Racine County Insane Asylum

Coordinates: 42°42′13.40″N 87°50′59.60″W / 42.7037222°N 87.8498889°W / 42.7037222; -87.8498889
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Engraving of the building, 1892

The Racine County Insane Asylum was a mental hospital, operated by the County of Racine, Wisconsin, from 1889 to the 1970s.

History

[edit]
Former asylum pond and grounds
Map, 1908
Map, 1933

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]
  1. ^ "Racine County Insane Asylum". The Milwaukee Journal, October 30, 1890, p. 1.
  2. ^ Stone, Fanny S. Racine, Belle City of the Lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin. Racine: S. J. Clarke, 1916.
  3. ^ "Insane Asylum Burned". Boston Evening Transcript, February 20, 1904, p. 1.
  4. ^ "Insane Asylum Burned". Providence News, February 20, 1904, p. 4.
  5. ^ "Building Boom for Wisconsin". The Milwaukee Journal, November 24, 1918, p. 1.
  6. ^ "Mad Patients Out in the Cold". Three Rivers Tribune, February 25, 1904, p. 3.
  7. ^ The History of Racine Wisconsin.
  8. ^ Racine Journal, April 14, 1903, p. 9.
  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.
  10. ^ Mental Health Services Information and Referral Directory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Ready Reference Press, 1978, p. 154.
  11. ^ American Hospital Association Guide to the Health Care Field. Chicago: American Hospital Association, 1976, p. 234.
  12. ^ "Volunteers Sought for Center Move". The Journal-Times. September 9, 1986. Retrieved October 26, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Matthews, John (November 24, 1988). "High Ridge Demolition to Begin". The Journal Times. Retrieved October 26, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ DLC Management Corp.: High Ridge Centre, with map.

42°42′13.40″N 87°50′59.60″W / 42.7037222°N 87.8498889°W / 42.7037222; -87.8498889