<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY style="COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: " bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I just found that my great grandfather died in this
hospital, Here is what I found on the net regarding this. I have obtained his
record of death from the Archives and suggest you contact them for research if
you believe a family member was there. Hope this helps you.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Susie</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=2>
<P></P>
<P>Oregon State Hospital </P>
<P>(formerly the State Insane Asylum)</P>
<P>As early as 1862 Governor Addison Gibbs recommended to the Oregon Legislature
the establishment in Salem of an asylum to provide for the care and medical
treatment of "insane and idiotic persons".</P>
<P>Prior to the passage of any act dealing with the insane, each county had
dealt with such unfortunate citizens on an individual basis. A document in the
Oregon Archives offers an instance of this bid procedure: dated August 6, 1845,
William P. Dougherty of Oregon City awarded a contract for "Boarding, clothing,
and keeping" Eli Smith, "a lunatic," to Andrew Hembrie for $1.00 per day.
Hembrie was under $600 bond to fulfill the contract. Similar contracts could be
found in each of the counties, usually under "Pauper Accounts."</P>
<P>By 1862, Dr. J. C. Hawthorne had opened his Portland Institute for the
Insane. Marion County, along with most of the counties then in existence,
contracted with Dr. Hawthorne to care for their citizens "of unsound mind." At
county expense, these unfortunates were shipped to Portland.</P>
<P>Funds were allocated in the Fall of 1880 for the Oregon State Insane Asylum;
the site selected was north of the state prison on a slight rise just east of
Salem, its present location. Ground breaking took place in May 1881 with much of
the labor force and brick building material coming from the penitentiary.</P>
<P>Completed in the summer of 1883, the main building of the hospital ("J"
building) is a familiar sight to anyone traveling on Center Street east of
downtown Salem. The street leading to the hospital was originally designated
Asylum Avenue. To oversee the operations at the facility, Dr. Horace Carpenter,
a local physician, was hired as first Superintendent of the new facility and a
staff was engaged to serve the 412 patients the hospital could accommodate. In
the Morning Oregonian appeared an account of the transfer of 261 male patients
from Portland's Hawthorne Asylum to their new home in Salem. The reporter
characterized these patients as "representing almost every known stage or degree
of insanity, idiocy, imbecility or helplessness". (Actually, records indicate
that 268 patients made the trip to Salem that day.) On October 24th, 1883, 102
female patients were transferred to Salem, including three girls, ages six to
nine.</P>
<P>For three decades the facility operated as the Oregon State Insane Asylum. In
1913 the name change to Oregon State Hospital occurred. In this year also a
crematory was put into use on the hospital grounds and all burials in the Asylum
Cemetery were disinterred and cremated. Following the enactment of S. B. 109,
deaths at "any eleemosynary, penal, or corrective institution of the State of
Oregon located at or near to the city of Salem," if unclaimed by a friend or
relatives, would be subject to cremation. Their ashes now rest in the Memorial
Circle on the western limits of the hospital grounds, "In Memory of Those Who
Have Passed Away at the Oregon State Hospital." The incinerator, called
"Steiner's Chimney," (for then-superintendent Dr. Lee Steiner who had it built
in 1910) can still be seen, though now the structure enclosing it houses the
power plant.</P>
<P>An extension of the hospital’s north wing ("Cascade Hall" or "J" building) in
1899 and the addition of seven separate buildings, including the familiar 1912
"Dome Building" where the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was filmed, in
succeeding years reflect the growing realization that the mental health of
Oregonians is a continuing concern.</P>
<P>Researched and written by Sue Bell.</P>
<P>Bibliography</P>
<P>Bell, Susan N. The Asylum Cemetery 1883-1913. Salem: Willamette Valley
Genealogy Society, 1991.</P>
<P>"Echoes of Oregon," State of Oregon Government and Territorial Records,
Document 1122.</P>
<P>Governor Addison Gibbs' Message to the Legislature - 1862, p. 49.</P>
<P>Marion County Commissioners Court Journals, various volumes in Oregon
Archives.</P>
<P>Morning Oregonian 24 Oct. 1883, pp. 1 & 4.Oregon Statesman Illustrated
Annual, 3 Jan. 1900, p. 29.</P>
<P>Oregon State Insane Asylum Admissions, Volume G, Oregon Archives.</P>
<P>Senate Bill 109, Oregon Laws. 25 Feb. 1913. </P>
<P>The State Hospital has its share of ghostly visitations, not surprising
considering the disturbed mental condition of most of its residents, and the
fact that many were taken there under duress. The labyrinth of underground
tunnels connecting the various buildings of the complex on both sides of Center
Street is spooky enough, or so ex-employees and former residents have reported.
Add to that, the strange happenings of :</P>
<P>> doors closing on their own,</P>
<P>> sounds of wailing and footsteps when no one is around to make them,</P>
<P>> "cold spots" in the halls,</P>
<P>> and shadows that persist in corners and doorways but disappear when
looked at directly - -these are sufficient to raise the hairs on the back of
anyone’s neck.</P>
<P>Explained by skeptics as simply the creaking and idiosyncrasies of old
buildings as they settle, others declare there are definitely spirit energies
still attached to the Hospital, particularly to the original "J" Building - -
which dates back to 1883. Some of the buildings on the north side of Center
Street were constructed over the abandoned asylum cemetery (including the Dome
Building); when the crematory was installed on the grounds in 1913, burials in
the 30-year-old graveyard ceased as any subsequent unclaimed bodies were
cremated as well as those previously interred in the cemetery. These remains
were later installed in the Memorial Circle near 25th Street.</P>
<P>Susan N. Bell, "The Asylum Cemetery 1883-1913" (Salem: Willamette Valley
Genealogical Society, 1991), p. 15</P>
<P> </P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P> </P>
<P> </P>
<P> </P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P> </P>
<P>Dr. J. C. Hawthorne, Portland</P>
<P>Superintendent of the Insane, 1865-81</P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P> </P>
<P>Dr. Horace Carpenter, First Oregon State Hospital Superintendent, 1883</P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P>Published with funds granted by the Oregon State Library under the Library
Services and Technology Act </P></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=whizinc@comcast.net href="mailto:whizinc@comcast.net">Steve &
Ronda Howard</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us
href="mailto:or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us">or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 27, 2004 2:10
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [or-roots] Hawthorne
Asylum</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi everyone,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I just received a Hawthorne Asylum record
from the Oregon State Archives. Todd (nice and helpful) said the
records are very sparce. I am wondering if anyone has information on the
Hawthorn Asylum, where it was and why people went there.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ronda
Howard</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>