Byberry Mental Hospital Byberry Mental Hospital Originally opened in Philadelphia in 1907, Byberry Mental hospital was built to be a self-sufficient farm for mentally ill patients. NEXT PAGE, _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________. on September 17, 1988:"In May 1987, the Commonwealth ***Special thanks to Alison Bennington for contacting the Friends of Poquessing Watershed and shedding some light on the The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania officially sold this piece of the Byberry property to SHM in the spring of 1988. In the early 1980s the C buildings became mostly vacant, and administration was moved to the W3 building. The facility included over fifty buildings such as male and female dormitories, an infirmary, kitchens, laundry, administration, a chapel, and a morgue. Publisher: The History Press. Her work has also been featured in Smithsonian and shes designed several book covers in her career as a graphic artist. Dowdall, George W. The Eclipse of the State Mental Hospital: Policy, Organization, and Stigma. Two years later, admissions of the insane to Blockley ended, and Byberry provided shelter and custodial care, usually at the most minimal levels and with considerable overcrowding. Following the therapeutic theories of the day, the asylums (later renamed state hospitals) offered rural retreats from the growing cities and at least the promise of treatment. City Archives, and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, as well some of my own photos and ephemera. This was the largest building, housing its own full sized cafeterias and kitchens, plus a dental office, x-ray rooms and an ER. This act left no physical marks on the body, and could easily fly under the radar of investigators. The Institutional Care of the Insane in the United States and Canada. People traumatized by an event in their adulthod such that they can no longer function, like veterans. township for the burial of "colored's". What started out as a working farm for a few unstable patients at a time in 1903 eventually grew into a multi-building campus. This included a man who froze to death on the hospital grounds after he couldnt get staff to let him inside during the winter. The closest cemetery was the friends burial ground, who's Please try sending a message directly to the creator of the location. The period in question is byberry's initial years under city control. Other photographs of the era, including a 1946 report by the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare, showed similar scenes.
