History of Eastern State Hospital

Extracted from the History of Lexington(1874) book.

Lexington, in 1816, was known as the most elegant and fashionable city in the West. Great attention was given to music, dancing, and all the lighter accomplishments; pleasure gardens and other places of amusement were liberally patronized, and social entertainments were the order of the day. 

A visitor, at that time, says:* "Lexington is as large as Cincinnati. The inhabitants are as polished, and, I regret to add, as luxurious as those of Boston, New York, or Baltimore, and their assemblies and parties are conducted with as much ease and grace as in the oldest towns of the Union. A summer view of Lexington is inexpressibly rich, novel, and picturesque, and the scenery around it almost equals that of the Elysium of the Ancients." 

Establishing Fayette Hospital

The Eastern Lunatic Asylum, founded in 1816, under the name of the "Fayette Hospital," was the first institution of the kind established in the western country, and the second state asylum opened in the United States. The projector of this now magnificent public charity was Andrew McCalla, one of the early settlers of Lexington, and a man noted for his kind heart and benevolent deeds. He was assisted by many other citizens of like character, and all of them were incorporated early in 1816, under the name of "The Contributors to the Fayette Hospital."

The names of these contributors, as far as known, are: Alex. Parker, Trotter, Scott & Co., John W. Hunt, Geo. Trotter, Jr., Thomas January, Lewis Sanders, J. & D. Maccoun, Andrew McCalla, T. D. Ovvings, Sam. Trotter, F. Eidgely, John Bradford, E. Higgins & J. D. Young, David Williamson, Mrs. Eleanor Hart, Benjamin Stout, "William Morton, Thos. H. Pindell, William Leavy, John Pope, E. Warlield, Daniel Bradford, Patterson Bain, Michael Fishel, Adam Eankin, Eobert Miller, L. M'Cullough, Tandy & Castleman, Eobert Frazer, Eobert H. M'Nair, J. Postlethwait, John H. Morton, John Hart, Jas. B. January, [Samuel] Ayres, Asa Farrow, Thomas Tibbats, E. W. Craig, Eobert Holmes, Sanford Keen, J. & B. Boswell, Maddox Fisher, E. Yeiser, David & J. Todd, Fisher & Layton, C. Coyle, James Wier.

Selecting a Site

On the 1st of March, the contributors organized under the charter, and shortly after purchased the "Sinking Spring" property, on which the present buildings are located. The site selected owed its name to a peculiar spring, still used, which has its origin in an immense subterranean volume of water, from which, it is said, the "Big Spring" at Georgetown flows. There is a tradition* that a quantity of chaff emptied into the "Sinking Spring," came out, some hours after, at the "Big Spring."

Dedication Ceremony

On Monday, June 30, 1817, on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of the "Fayette Hospital" building, a procession marched from the courthouse to the Sinking Spring, in the following order, viz:

Two Civil Officers of the County, Judge of the Circuit

Court, Justices of the Peace and Bar.

Clergy.

Trustees and Professors of Transylvania University.

Students of Transylvania University.

Trustees of the Town.

Physicians.

Students of Medicine.

Music.

Architects of the Building.

Orator of the Day.

Hospital Committee.

Contributors.

Citizens.

In the presence of a large concourse of spectators, after an appropriate prayer by Rev. Robert M. Cunningham, the corner-stone was laid, and in it were deposited the newspapers of Lexington for that week, some silver and copper coins of the United States, two publications in favor of the institution, and a brass plate bearing the name of the engraver and the following inscription :

State of Kentucky,

LEXINGTON,

June 30th, a. d. 1817.

Deposited in the Corner-stone of the

FAYETTE HOSPITAL.

The first erected west of the Appalachian Mountains. 

Built by Contribution, under the Direction of 

AND'W M'CALLA, THOS. JANUARY,          Building Committee ofSTEPHEN CHIFLEY,      the Contributors.STERLING ALLEN, RICH'D HIGGINS, J

Also, the 5th verse of the 11th chapter of Matthew, in the original.

The ceremony was concluded by a powerful and eloquent oration by Henry Clay.

Ownership Transfers to the State

By the time the hospital was roofed in, a financial crisis defeated the plans of the building committee, and in 1822, it was found best to tender the property to the state, which purchased it the following year, gave it the name of the "Kentucky Eastern Lunatic Asylum," and appropriated $10,000 for its benefit. 

The asylum was formally opened May 1, 1824, and the first patient admitted was "Charity,"* a negro woman from Woodford county. For twenty years after its opening, the attending physicians were Dr. S. Theobolds, Dr. Louis Decognets, and others, assisted by the medical faculty of Transylvania University. 

Tragedy Strikes the Hospital Many Times

In 1833, and at several different times after, the cholera raged with fatal effect in the asylum, and several times it has been visited by destructive fires, in one of which a number of patients were consumed. In 1844, the custodial management of the institution was changed for an enlightened one.* 

Dr. J. K. Allen was made the first superintendent under the new order of things. Chains and jailers rapidly disappeared, and the institution soon wore a civilized appearance. Dr. Allen held his office for ten years, giving great satisfaction to all concerned, and gaining for himself an enviable reputation.

In 1850, a liberal bequest was made to the asylum by James S. Megowan, "for the purpose of adding to the comfort and amusement of the patients."

Dr. W. S. Chipley, who for many years made mental diseases his special study, succeeded Dr. Allen in 1855, and continued as superintendent for fourteen years. Under his very efficient management, improvements were made in almost every respect, and the institution attained a position of usefulness second to none in this country.

Hospital Expands in 1867

The capacity of the asylum was greatly increased in 1867, by an appropriation of $150,000 by the legislature. The new buildings erected gave the institution two hundred and fifty additional rooms.

In 1869, Dr. Chipley resigned, and Dr. John "W. Whitney became superintendent, a position which he still holds. The institution has never been more prosperous, or its affairs more efficiently managed, than since the induction of the present able and skillful superintendent. His assistants are Drs. Dudley, Layton, and Rogers.

Since 1822, the state appropriations to the asylum have amounted to nearly a million of dollars. The little patch of ground it then owned has been increased to three hundred acres; nearly three thousand five hundred patients have been admitted to the institution, of whom largely over a thousand have recovered, besides very many who were so much improved as to justify their restoration to society. 

The asylum is supplied with every convenience, comfort, and medical and scientific arrangement calculated to benefit its inmates ; and stands in the first rank among like institutions in the United States.

Taken from the book, History of Lexington, Its Early Annals and Recent Progress by George W Ranck, 1872. Available at Internet Archive (archive.org). Note that I added the headings to make it easier to scan.