St. Elizabeths Hospital
St. Elizabeths Hospital was the first large scale government-run mental hospital in the U.S. It was founded by Dorothea Dix, a pioneering advocate for the mentally ill. It opened in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane; in 1916, its name was changed to St. Elizabeths (the colonial-era name for the area in which the hospital was built).
The campus of St. Elizabeths is in Washington, DC, on high ground near the meeting of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. It covers 300 acres (1.2 km²) and has several important buildings (some of which were built using slave labor) designed by the leading architects of the day. Much of the campus has fallen out of use and is today in serious disrepair: St. Elizabeths has been named by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of the most endangered historical sites in the country. Since 1987, St. Elizabeths has been administered by the District of Columbia. Although it continues to operate, it operates on a far smaller scale than it did formerly.
St. Elizabeths has treated over 125,000 patients, many of whom are buried on its grounds. Several important therapeutic techniques were pioneered at St. Elizabeths, and it has served as a model for later institutions. Notable patients include Ezra Pound and John Hinckley.
