Northampton State Hospital

Northampton State Hospital was a historic Psychiatric hospital at 1 Prince Street on top of Hospital Hill outside of Northampton, Massachusetts. The hospital building was constructed in 1856, operated until 1993, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.HistoryConstruction of the State Hospital at Northampton, the third state institution for the insane in the state of Massachusetts began on March 15, 1856 on top of Hospital Hill outside of Northampton, Massachusetts.On July 4 (United States Independence Day) of the same year the cornerstone was laid. For posterity, a time capsule was embedded within the cornerstone, where it would lay undisturbed on top of Hospital Hill for 150 years. The hospital consisted of Old Main (the original Kirkbride hospital building), and infirmaries, staff dormitories, a work farm, and other buildings including a brand new memorial complex which was established later.The asylum received its first patients on August 16, 1858. Within six weeks, the population would reach 220, most of whom were transfers from other institutions long overwhelmed. The original design specified a maximum of 200 patients, but this limit was raised to 250 by the statewide hospital Commissioners before the asylum opened. After only two months the Board of Trustees speculated that the limit could be raised to 300 patients. As the patient population accelerated, the wards of Old Main were built onto so much that its original design looked nothing like its new shape. Soon, the population grew so much that several new infirmaries had to be built to sustain the patients.