Looking Down the Long Brick Building of Spencer State Hospital, Spencer, W. Va.
Date:
Undated
Description:
Spencer State Hospital was primarily a hospital for the insane and those suffering from mental illness. It opened in 1893 to take on patients from Weston State Hospital which was overpopulated at the time. The hospital remained in use until June of 1989.
Aerial View of Spencer State Hospital, Spencer, W. Va.
Date:
Undated
Description:
Spencer State Hospital was primarily a hospital for the insane and those suffering from mental illness. It opened in 1893 to take on patients from Weston State Hospital which was overpopulated at the time. The hospital remained in use until June of 1989. As you can see, there was originally no fencing around the building separating patients from the town, and patients were even allowed free access to and from the town and building.
Gathering Room Inside of Spencer State Hospital, Spencer, W. Va.
Date:
Undated
Description:
Podium and piano are the focal point of the room in front. Spencer State Hospital was primarily a hospital for the insane and those suffering from mental illness. It opened in 1893 to take on patients from Weston State Hospital which was overpopulated at the time. The hospital remained in use until June of 1989.
Doctors, patients and nurses stand on the balcony. On the ground level are John Frances and Mary Ellen "Mattie" Bigony. Dr. John Charleton Bignoy is pictured on the horse as a child.
Second from left in the back is Martha E. Charleton Bigony and to the right of her is Dr. John F. Bigony.Sitting, from left to right, is Sarah Jane Wilson Charleton, Nancy Pinkley Wilson, unidentified, and Mrs. Hinton.Sitting in the front row, from left to right, is Dr. John Charleton Bigony, Paul Ellesworth Bigony, Joseph Clair Bigony, and Dorsy Madison.
"The Weston State Hospital, also known as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, was constructed in the late 1800s and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990. It is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in North America, and is purportedly the second largest in the world, next to the Kremlin. The original hospital, designed to house 250 souls, was open to patients in 1864 and reached its peak in the 1950s with 2,400 patients in overcrowded and generally poor conditions. Changes in the treatment of mental illness and the physical deterioration of the facility forced its closure in 1994 inflicting a devastating effect on the local economy, from which it has yet to recover. Today, the hospital is open to historical tours and ghost tours."
