Danvers State Hospital

Job Inquiry Letter about beautifying the grounds of Danvers State Hospital

First opened on May 1st of 1878, Danvers State Hospital, once referred to as Danvers State Insane Asylum, was home to thousands of mental patients over its 114-year-old life span. The hospital sat upon Hawthorne Hill, located in Danvers, Massachusetts. The campus consisted of 174 acres of land, one central building that was separated into eight separate wings, as well as a boiler building located in the back of the building. Danvers State Hospital was built with the tips and recommendations set in place for successful mental hospitals to follow, called the Kirkbride Plan, created by Dr. Thomas Kirkbride. The Kirkbride Plan is a list of requirements for the construction of mental hospitals to ensure their efficiency as well as humane treatment of patients. One of the most important parts of the plan is beautifying the hospital to make it more pleasing to the patients, and those visiting. In the letter written by one of the executives of the hospital, beautification was a main part of the hospital’s success. Danvers State Hospital is one of the many hospitals constructed with Dr. Kirkbrides’s model in mind. 

The main building was constructed with brick and stone, and followed a gothic-style architecture. This specific style of construction is one of the reasons the hospital was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. After over 100 years, Danvers State Hospital was closed by the state of Massachusetts as a result of overcrowding and insufficient funds. The hospital’s last patients were transferred to Tewksbury State Hospital on June 24, 1992, and the campus was bought from the state by Avalon Bay in 2005 to turn the facilities into apartments. In 2007, the majority of Danvers State Hospital was demolished. Although little of the building still stands, its strong history is still honored on the property.

Center, Danvers Archival. “History.” Peabody Institute Library of Danvers, 8 Jan. 2019, https://www.danverslibrary.org/archive/danvers-state-hospital/.

“Image 5 of Olmsted Associates Records: Job Files, 1863-1971; Files; 6061; Danvers State Hospital; Hawthorne, Mass., 1914-1931.” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/resource/mss52571.mss52571-02-283_0008_0014/?sp=5&r=-0.989%2C-0.022%2C2.977%2C1.45%2C0.