Napa State Hospital
| Napa State Hospital | |
|---|---|
| California Department of State Hospitals | |
 Original Kirkbride building, c. 1900 | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Napa, Napa Valley, Napa County, California, United States |
| Coordinates | 38°16′41″N 122°16′01″W / 38.27806°N 122.26694°W |
| Services | |
| History | |
| Opened | 1875 |
| Links | |
| Website | Official website  |
| Lists | Hospitals in California |
Napa State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Napa, California, founded in 1875. It is located along California State Route 221, the Napa-Vallejo Highway, and is one of California's five state mental hospitals. Napa State Hospital holds civil and forensic mental patients in a sprawling 138-acre campus. According to a hospital spokesperson, there were 2,338 people employed at the facility during the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year, making it one of the region's largest employers.
The Napa Valley Cricket Club played a number of their matches at McGrath Field, a multi-use sports field, at the eastern end of the hospital campus for the 2017 season.
History
[edit]The property was originally part of Rancho Tulucay, a part of a Mexican Land Grant, sold by Cayetano Juárez to the State of California in 1872.
Originally named Napa Insane Asylum, the facility opened on November 15, 1875. It sat on 192 acres (0.8 square kilometers) of property stretching from the Napa River to what is now Skyline Park. The facility was originally built to relieve overcrowding at Stockton Asylum. By the early 1890s, the facility had over 1,300 patients which was more than double the original capacity it was designed to house. In 1893, the Mendocino State Hospital was opened and relieved some of the overcrowding at the Napa hospital.[1]
The original main building known as "the Castle" was an ornate and imposing building constructed with bricks. Facilities on the property included a large farm that included dairy and poultry ranches, vegetable garden, and fruit orchards that provided a large part of the food supply consumed by the residents. The castle's main building was torn down after World War II.[2]
This hospital was one of the many state asylums that had sterilization centers.[3] Approximately 4,000 former patients are buried in a field at this hospital, and about 1,400 people were buried at the Sonoma Regional Center (now North Bay Regional Center).[4]
In 1978, this hospital was the site of the Cramps concert, when several patients attempted to escape.[5]
Notable patients
[edit]- Edward Charles Allaway – mass murderer; transferred to Napa in 2016[6]
- Sara Kathryn Arledge, artist and filmmaker, forcibly committed by her husband Clyde Smith in 1956
- Richard Allen Davis – murderer and career criminal; was sent to Napa after faking a suicide attempt so he could escape in 1976[7]
- Charles E. Huber – businessman; was admitted after increasingly bizarre and violent behavior[8]
- Chol Soo Lee – immigrant accused of murder; was admitted following a suicide attempt while incarcerated in 1966
- Eddie Machen – boxer; admitted for threatening suicide in 1962
- Earle Nelson – serial killer; was sent to Napa several times and escaped prior to his killings
- Henry Peavey – cook and valet for William Desmond Taylor; was admitted after being diagnosed with syphilis[9]
- Bull Perrine – baseball umpire; was admitted due to failing health and later died in Napa[10]
- William G. Sebold – German U.S. citizen and spy; admitted for manic depression in 1965
- Scott Harlan Thorpe – spree killer; sentenced to Napa[11]
- Clarice Vance – vaudeville personality; died in Napa after being admitted for failing health[12]
- Carleton Watkins – photographer; was admitted by his daughter[13]
Notable staff
[edit]- Matilda Allison – educator who taught blind veterans at Napa[14]
- Dorothea Dix – psychiatric reformer
- Meredith Hodges – psychiatric technician
- Thomas Story Kirkbride – physician
In popular culture
[edit]- The hospital comes up several times in The 6th Target by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.
- The Cramps played a free concert to the residents in 1978.[15][16]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Inventory of the Department of Mental Hygiene - Mendocino State Hospital Records". oac.cdlib.org. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
- ^ "Once upon a time, a hospital castle was Napa Valley's centerpiece". Napa Valley Register. February 20, 2018. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
- ^ Black, Edwin (November 9, 2003). "Eugenics and the Nazis—the California connection". SFGate.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ "'Remembrance Day' held for Mendocino, state mental hospital patients". pressdemocrat.com. 2016-09-20. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
- ^ Kirkpatrick, Kirk (February 20, 2018). "Once upon a time, a hospital castle was Napa Valley's centerpiece". Napa Valley Register. Napa, CA: Lee Enterprises, Inc. Archived from the original on February 20, 2018. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
- ^ Frank Shyong (20 August 2016). "Cal State Fullerton killer's hospital transfer sparks protests from his victims' families". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- ^ "Richard Allen Davis' Life of Crime". SFGate. 6 August 1996. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- ^ "PROMINENT OIL MEN IN AN ARMED RAID?: ACTION BROUGHT FOR SEVENTYFIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Walker Seeking Damages from Los Angeles Speculators--E. C. Huber, Sent to Insane Hospital, Thinks He Has Enormous Fortune. TOUCHING ANXIETY. AFTER HILL'S FORTUNE. CUPID'S UNDERSTUDY. KUTZ PUTS UP MONEY. HUBER INSANE. IMAGINARY FORTUNE. COURT NOTES. BREVITIES MISCELLANEOUS". Los Angeles Times. 13 June 1902. p. A2. ProQuest 164070501.
- ^ Higham, Charles (2006). Murder in Hollywood: Solving a Silent Screen Mystery. Terrace Books. p. 189. ISBN 0-299-20364-6.
- ^ ""Bull" Perrine Sent to Napa Asylum — San Francisco Call 18 September 1913 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". Archived from the original on 22 October 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- ^ "Thorpe pleads guilty to murder". The Union. Nevada County, California. March 21, 2003. Archived from the original on September 30, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
- ^ Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald (2007). Vaudeville old & new: An encyclopedia of variety performances in America. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415938532.
- ^ "National Gallery of Art - Carleton Watkins: The Art of Perception". www.nga.gov. Archived from the original on 4 March 2005. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
- ^ "San Pedro News Pilot 12 April 1924 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
- ^ "The Cramps Play a Mental Health Hospital in Napa, California in 1978: The Punkest of Punk Concerts | Open Culture".
- ^ "The Cramps at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa - Concert 1978". YouTube. 7 February 2021.
External links
[edit]
- Official website
- This hospital in the CA Healthcare Atlas – a project by OSHPD
- Doctor Vista: Napa State Hospital profile
- Napa State Hospital – a book
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