Bob Cudmore will speak this evening, Tuesday, October 15, 2019 at 7 pm at a meeting of the Broadalbin-Kennyetto Historical Society, held at the Presbyterian Church, 54 West Main St. in Broadalbin. Refreshments will be served and everyone is welcome. To invite Bob to your organization, email bobcudmore@yahoo.com
Utica mental health facility known far and wide
By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History for 09-19-2015
Do you remember being told in the middle of the last century that you were so addled that you were going to be sent to Utica?
What your tormentor likely was referring to was Old Main, a regional mental health facility that opened in 1843. Old Main closed in 1978 and its patients were sent elsewhere. In 2004 part of the first floor was refurbished to house state mental health records.
Five thousand people toured the large building fronted by massive Greek columns in 2014 and State Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi has formed a committee to come up with suggestions on future use of the structure.
Author Dennis Webster has written a history called “Old Main: New York State Lunatic Asylum in Utica, N.Y.”
Old Main was the first mental asylum built in New York, the second in the nation. The facility followed the principles of a more humane treatment of the mentally ill developed by French physician Philippe Pinel and championed in America by Dr. Benjamin Rush, a physician who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
The asylum was originally proposed for Watervliet but a deal could not be reached with a farmer for the land. The facility was then constructed at state and local expense on a large piece of property in west Utica close to rail lines and the Erie Canal.
Dr. Amariah Brigham, a disciple of Rush, was the first director. He would greet incoming patients and remove their chains before they went inside.
Webster said that before the creation of facilities such as Old Main, “People with mental disabilities were locked away, shunned, chained in basements with no good food or clothing.”
Webster said that Brigham believed mental illness could be cured. Men and women lived in separate sections. All had occupations, wore clean clothing, took part in religious services and led structured lives. Patients worked a farm on the property.
Webster said the state wanted the building to be beautiful to reflect the beauty of moral treatment. The extensive grounds featured landscaping in the picturesque gothic style designed by prominent landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing.
The arts and humanities were emphasized and patients put on plays. For ten years the patients produced a literary magazine called “The Opal.” It had three thousand subscribers and copies are still available at libraries and historical societies.
Brigham is remembered for a controversial piece of equipment called the Utica Crib. Since chains were not allowed, the crib was like a child’s crib but had a top that prevented a patient from moving to any great degree. The crib was outlawed after several decades.
Brigham died in 1849. Three years later a former patient then employed at the facility started a fire because he was spoken to harshly by an institution official. A fireman and a doctor died trying to save important records. The New York Times editorialized that the concept of curing mental illness had failed.
In the 1850s Old Main became a tourist attraction. Webster said, “They wanted to debunk the stigma of mental illness.” After a decade of tourism including a visit by the entire New York State Legislature, it was decided that tourism was making a spectacle out of the patients.
Other asylums were built in New York State, including Willard in the Finger Lakes, even bigger than Old Main.
In 1890 the name of the Mohawk Valley facility was changed to Utica State Hospital. In later years it was called the Utica Psychiatric Center. Webster said the number of patients in the Utica institution totaled well over a thousand in 1902.
Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, October 15, 2019-Sunny, High 58
Wednesday, October 16, 2019-From The Historians Podcast Archives- Episode 139, November 25, 2016-T Martin Bennett, author of “Wounded Tiger”: The story of the Japanese pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Historic Amsterdam League will have its seventh annual Ghosts of the Past tour starting at 6 p.m. this Friday, October18 and Saturday, October 19, 2019 at the Green Hill Cemetery. http://www.historicamsterdam.org/
The tour will tell the stories of nine new ghosts, continuing its long practice of never repeating a story. This annual tour, which seeks to introduce the public to some of Amsterdam’s most interesting permanent residents.
“Every ghost has an important story to tell, even if they weren’t famous or infamous. Even an ordinary tradesman or farmer and his wife have stories that can shed light on life and death in Amsterdam,” said Jerry Snyder, co-founder of HAL. “And there are 15,000 such stories at Green Hill.”
Some of the ghosts scheduled to appear are: Henry Grieme, the first professional architect in the city and for whom Grieme Avenue is named; the Harper brothers, who died in the Civil War; Louis Conrad, the only officer to be both a member of the Amsterdam Police and Fire departments; and Cora Green, the victim of a double homicide and suicide on Elizabeth Street. Five more ghosts are expected to haunt the tour.
The tours begin and end at City Hall, on buses donated by Liberty ARC, at 6, 6:30, 7, 7:30, 8, and 8:30 p.m. The tickets for the tours can be purchased at the Book Hound, 16 Main St., or Damiano Florists, 2 Hewitt St. $10 for adults, and $5 for children 10 years or younger.
“These tours sell out every year,” said Rob von Hasseln, city historian and president of HAL, “So get your tickets as soon as possible.”
The proceeds from ticket sales benefit the Green Hill Cemetery Association, Liberty ARC, and HAL’s history, preservation, publications, and historical markers programs.
Historian Eric Schnitzer is set to give a presentation on his book Don Troiani’s Campaign to Saratoga – 1777, on Saturday, October 19, 2019 at 2 pm, at the Marshall House, one of the few surviving structures from the Battles of Saratoga.
The Marshall House is located at 136 Route 4 North, Schuylerville, Saratoga County, NY.
NYHB https://newyorkhistoryblog.org/2019/10/unique-illustrated-presentation-of-saratoga-campaign-1777/
Performer and artist Ragliacci will re-tell the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 27, 2019 at Fulton County Historical Society, 237 Kingsboro Ave. Tickets are $10 per person, $5 for youths younger than 18, and $7 for FCHS members. Reservations are encouraged, as space is limited. Email ssaladino@fultoncountyhistoricalsociety.org or call (518) 725-2203 to reserve a spot.
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