Vermont State Hospital

Coordinates: 44°19′55″N 72°45′02″W / 44.331816°N 72.750548°W

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Vermont State Hospital
Operating as the Waterbury State Office Complex, 2023

Geography
Location	103 South Main Street, Waterbury, Vermont, United States
Coordinates	44°19′55″N 72°45′02″W / 44.331816°N 72.750548°W / 44.331816; -72.750548
Organization
Funding	Public hospital
Type	Specialist
Services
Beds	54
Speciality	Psychiatric
History
Opened	1891
Closed	2011
Links
Website	Archived website

Vermont State Hospital Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district

Area	36.3 acres (14.7 ha)
Architect	Rand and Taylor Charles Wyman Buckham Payson Rex Webber; et al.
Architectural style	Late Victorian, Colonial Revival, Classical Revival
NRHP reference No.	16000765
Added to NRHP	November 8, 2016

Lists	Hospitals in Vermont

Vermont State Hospital,^[1] alternately known as the Vermont State Asylum for the Insane and the Waterbury Asylum, was a mental institution built in 1890 in Waterbury, Vermont to help relieve overcrowding at the privately run Vermont Asylum for the Insane in Brattleboro, Vermont, now known as the Brattleboro Retreat. Originally intended to treat the criminally insane, the hospital eventually took in patients with a wide variety of problems, including mild to severe mental disabilities, epilepsy, depression, alcoholism and senility.^[2] The hospital campus, much of which now houses other state offices as the Waterbury State Office Complex, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.^[3] Partly as a replacement for this facility, the state currently operates the 25 bed Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin, Vermont.^{[citation needed]}

History

During the tenure of Dr. Eugene A. Stanley as superintendent (1918–1936), the hospital expanded – with a patient population peaking at 1,728 in the mid-1930s – and constructed a new three-story building specifically for the treatment of women.^{[citation needed]} Stanley, who was an advocate of eugenics, espoused forced sterilization and advised the Eugenics Society, to whom he provided patient records.^[2]

The word, "Waterbury," used in a derogatory sense, was intended to convey to the listener that someone was either insane or was acting or talking in a manner disagreeable to the speaker (e.g. "Keep that up, and we'll be sending you to Waterbury.")^[4]

The property was flooded in 1927.^{[citation needed]} In 2011, Tropical Storm Irene flooded the property 2.5 feet (0.76 m) above predicted 100-year level.^[5]

In 1963, the population started to decline.^{[clarification needed]} Empty floor space was converted into state offices.^[5]

In 2011, the hospital closed due to flooding in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene in Vermont.

Facilities

In 2012, the property covered 117 acres (47 ha).^[5]

References

^ HEALTH CARE IN VERMONT DATABASE AND TIMELINE
^ ^a ^b "Vermont State Hospital" on the Asylum Project website
^ Papazian, Lyssa. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Vermont State Hospital Historic District". National Park Service. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
^ ""Don't Send Me to Waterbury!"" (PDF). Ethan Allen Institute. December 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c Remsen, Nancy (June 11, 2012). "Tearing down before building back". Burlington Free Press. Burlington, Vermont. pp. 1A, 6A, 7A.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vermont State Hospital.

Official website

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Vermont
National Historic Landmark	Socialist Labor Party Hall Vermont State House
Districts	Barre Downtown Historic District Beck and Beck Granite Shed Currier Park Historic District East Calais Historic District Goddard College Greatwood Campus Kents Corner Historic District Mad River Glen Ski Area Historic District ‡ Mad River Valley Rural Historic District McLaughlin Farm Mill Village Historic District Montpelier Historic District North Calais Village Historic District Plainfield Village Historic District Roxbury Fish Hatchery Vermont State Hospital Historic District Waitsfield Common Historic District Waitsfield Village Historic District Warren Village Historic District Waterbury Village Historic District
Buildings	Aldrich Public Library Allenwood Farm Athenwood and the Thomas W. Wood Studio Barre City Hall and Opera House Central Vermont Railway Depot Colby Mansion College Hall Parley Davis House East Village Meetinghouse Gale-Bancroft House Green Mountain Seminary Italian Baptist Church Jones Brothers Granite Shed Jones–Pestle Farmstead Joslin Farm Lareau Farmstead Chauncey B. Leonard House Martin Covered Bridge Mayo Building National Clothespin Factory Nichols House Old Red Mill Old West Church Reynolds House Scampini Block E. L. Smith Roundhouse Granite Shed Joshua Twing Gristmill Union Co-operative Store Bakery Union Meetinghouse Waterbury Center Methodist Church Wheelock Law Office Theodore Wood House Woodbury Graded School Woodbury Town Hall Worcester Town Hall Worcester Village School
Structures	Bridge 31 Bridge No. 27 Center Road Culvert Coburn Covered Bridge Great Eddy Covered Bridge Lower Cox Brook Covered Bridge Middlesex–Winooski River Bridge Northfield Falls Covered Bridge Pine Brook Covered Bridge Slaughter House Covered Bridge Stony Brook Covered Bridge Upper Cox Brook Covered Bridge Warren Covered Bridge
Footnotes	‡ This historic property also has portions in an adjacent county.
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Washington County, Vermont and List of National Historic Landmarks in Vermont

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF
National	United States

History

Facilities

See also

References

External links