Spring Grove Hospital Center
Encyclopedia
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
located in the Baltimore, Maryland suburb of Catonsville.
Founded in 1797, Spring Grove is the second oldest continuously operating psychiatric hospital in the United States. Today, the hospital operates 426 beds and has approximately 800 admissions and discharges a year. Service lines include adult and adolescent acute psychiatric admissions, long term inpatient care, medical-psychiatric hospitalization, forensic evaluation services, inpatient psychiatric research, and assisted living services. The facility is owned and operated by the State of Maryland and is the location of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center which is renowned for its research into the causes of, and best treatments for, schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
.
History
Founded in 1797, Spring Grove is the nation's second-oldest psychiatric hospital. Only the Eastern State Hospital which was founded in 1773 in Williamsburg, VirginiaWilliamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, is older. In its long history it has been variously known as The Baltimore Hospital, The Maryland Hospital, The Maryland Hospital for the Insane, and finally as The Spring Grove Hospital Center.
The present site was purchased in 1852 by which time the original buildings had become inadequate. Dr Richard Sprigg Steuart
Richard Sprigg Steuart
Dr. Richard Sprigg Steuart was a Maryland physician and an early pioneer of the treatment of mental illness. He was instrumental in the expansion and modernisation of The Maryland Hospital for the Insane, now known as the Spring Grove Hospital Center, which became his life's work...
, then President of the Board and Medical Superintendent, managed to obtain authorization and funding from the Maryland General Assembly for the construction of the new facility at Spring Grove. He chaired the committee that selected the Hospital's present site in Catonsville, and he personally contributed $1,000 towards the purchase of the land. Building was however delayed by the onset of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and was not completed until 1872. Steuart's building (known at various times as "The Main Building", "The Center Building" or "The Administration Building,") remained the main hospital facility for almost 100 years. It was eventually demolished in 1963, when it was replaced by more modern construction.