Three-West State Homeopathic Hospital

Three-West State Homeopathic Hospital (Alias)

The doors of Three-West were opened to the public on April 20, 1874.
Hailed as the first homeopathic asylum in the world, a fact that was later proven to be false.
It was the first asylum in the United States however, to operate under homeopathic management.

Now, I know some people might be about to open Dictionary.com,
I'll save you the trouble...

ho·me·op·a·thy (hō'mē-ŏp'ə-thē)
n. pl. ho·me·op·a·thies
A system for treating disease based on the administration of minute doses of a drug
that in massive amounts produces symptoms in healthy individuals similar to those of the disease itself.
ho'me·o·path' (-ə-pāth'), ho'me·op'a·thist n., ho'me·o·path'ic adj., ho'me·o·path'i·cal·ly adv


Three-West was erected upon a 250 acre parcel of farmland. 200 acres of land, plus fifty acres of forest.
Construction was under way by March 1872.
The foundation of what was to be the central and executive building was almost complete.
The dimensions of which were 172 feet long, by sixty-two feet wide.
A "good substantial stone wall, laid up with hydraulic cement and sand for the superstructure to rest upon"

A store house, depot, blacksmith shop, and shed had been built, and already were in use by 1872.
Grounds were also being prepared for gardens, a fruit orchard, and new road.

The cost break-down for that time-frame is as follows...

"Expense of the land" - $34, 616
"Labor and improvement" - $2,051
"Construction of railway switch" - $1,770
"Construction of water mains" - $2,155
"Opening and grading of new avenue" - $338
"Masonry and stonework" - $3,481
"Excavating and grading grounds" - $1,643
"For building account, which included cost of tools and other supplies" - $2,572
"General expenditures" - $2,664
"Architect Fee" - $175
"Salaries" - $600
"Salary of superintendent" - $1,457

Total cost for that year, including the land, was $56,346

Upon it's opening in 1874, and going against the original plans,
it was decided that the facility will treat women as well as men.
Sixty-nine patients were treated at Three-West during it's first year of operation.

By the year 1902, the asylum had a population of over 1,200.
By 1909 several other structures were built, and the patient population grew to 2,25

October 8, 1921
One in the morning.
Fire starts in the attic of the main building.
A night watchman was alerted by the sound of an automatic sprinkler, and came to discover the roof to be ablaze.
The building was lost, but luckily not one person was harmed.
The patients had all been tought how to properly exit the facility in case of fire, and they all preformed exactly as intended.

The origin of the fire remains a mystery.
There was no known wiring in the attic, and no visitors had been on that floor during the previous day.
Upon the spot where the main building once stood, a new "fireproof" one was erected.
The new building was occupied in 1927.

1924 marked 50 years of work for Three-West.
During that span, 12,957 patients had been admitted.
3,949 were discharged as "recovered.
249 were reported as "improved"
1,559 shown "no improvement"
and 3,546 died.

Three-West continued to sprawl itself out across it's acreage throughout the years.
Currently it remains an operating facility, though it is solely based out of the newer buildings that scatter the campus.
What was once the beautiful and grand executive building was partially demolished,
the remaining wing was left as a ward for the more violent persons of Three-West.

As time went by, this too ceased to be of use, and was left vacant...
To be more specific, condemned by the state.
It remains to this day, rotting, sitting in amongst the newer and more plain buildings that it helped spawn.
A throw-back to the old world of medicine. An echo of the land.

The building itself is in exceedingly poor shape and is very dangerous in places.
In some areas of the structure several floors have collapsed onto each other, finally finding rest in the basement.

The only inhabitants that remain to call this place a home are the countless pigeons that occupy the third floor of the facility.
They also add to the eeriness of the atmosphere, as you can hear their coos throughout the entire structure.

Images can be viewed here:
http://rustytagliareni.blogspot.com/2010/04/three-west-state-homeopathic-hosp...


Music: "Oakvale Theme" by Danny Elfman

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Abandoned
• Asylum
• Haunted
• Insane
• Old
• Eerie
• Forgotten
• Rotten
• Ward
• Weird
• Rusty
• Tagliareni
• Christina