Napa State Hospital

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 {{convert|192|acre|km2|1|abbr=off|sp=us}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Inventory of the Department of Mental Hygiene - Mendocino State Hospital Records |url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2c6001q2/ |url-status=live |access-date=2021-12-19 |website=oac.cdlib.org |archive-date=2021-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219004821/https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2c6001q2/ }}

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.{{Cite news |date=February 20, 2018 |title=Once upon a time, a hospital castle was Napa Valley's centerpiece |work=Napa Valley Register |url=https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/once-upon-a-time-a-hospital-castle-was-napa-valley/article_0de5d70f-895a-5a32-bc7a-255e8dbe3e2f.html#tracking-source=home-top-story |access-date=January 23, 2023 |archive-date=October 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023153447/https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/once-upon-a-time-a-hospital-castle-was-napa-valley/article_0de5d70f-895a-5a32-bc7a-255e8dbe3e2f.html#tracking-source=home-top-story |url-status=live }}

This hospital was one of the many state asylums that had sterilization centers.{{Cite web |last=Black |first=Edwin |date=November 9, 2003 |title=Eugenics and the Nazis—the California connection |url=https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Eugenics-and-the-Nazis-the-California-2549771.php |url-status=live |access-date=2021-03-22 |website=SFGate.com |archive-date=2012-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514102916/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2003%2F11%2F09%2FING9C2QSKB1.DTL }} 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).{{Cite web |date=2016-09-20 |title='Remembrance Day' held for Mendocino, state mental hospital patients |url=https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/forgotten-mendocino-mental-hospital-patients-commemorated-at-mass-graves/ |access-date=2021-12-19 |website=pressdemocrat.com |language=en-US |archive-date=2021-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219004747/https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/forgotten-mendocino-mental-hospital-patients-commemorated-at-mass-graves/ |url-status=live }}

In 1978, this hospital was the site of the Cramps concert, when several patients attempted to escape.{{Cite journal

| last = Kirkpatrick

| first = Kirk

| title = Once upon a time, a hospital castle was Napa Valley's centerpiece

| journal = Napa Valley Register

| publisher = Lee Enterprises, Inc.

| location = Napa, CA

| date = February 20, 2018

| url = http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/once-upon-a-time-a-hospital-castle-was-napa-valley/article_0de5d70f-895a-5a32-bc7a-255e8dbe3e2f.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

| access-date = February 21, 2018

| archive-date = February 20, 2018

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180220215431/http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/once-upon-a-time-a-hospital-castle-was-napa-valley/article_0de5d70f-895a-5a32-bc7a-255e8dbe3e2f.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

| url-status = live

}}

• Edward Charles Allaway{{snds}}mass murderer; transferred to Napa in 2016{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fullerton-killer-transfer-20160819-snap-story.html|title=Cal State Fullerton killer's hospital transfer sparks protests from his victims' families|work=Los Angeles Times|date=20 August 2016|author=Frank Shyong|access-date=23 January 2023|archive-date=22 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022155254/https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fullerton-killer-transfer-20160819-snap-story.html|url-status=live}}
• Sara Kathryn Arledge, artist and filmmaker, forcibly committed by her husband Clyde Smith in 1956
• Richard Allen Davis{{snds}}murderer and career criminal; was sent to Napa after faking a suicide attempt so he could escape in 1976{{Cite web|date=6 August 1996|title=Richard Allen Davis' Life of Crime|url=https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/RICHARD-ALLEN-DAVIS-LIFE-OF-CRIME-2971897.php|url-status=live|website=SFGate|access-date=23 January 2023|archive-date=23 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023044426/https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/RICHARD-ALLEN-DAVIS-LIFE-OF-CRIME-2971897.php}}
• Charles E. Huber{{snds}}businessman; was admitted after increasingly bizarre and violent behavior{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|164070501}} |title=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 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=13 June 1902 |page=A2 }}
• Chol Soo Lee{{snds}}immigrant accused of murder; was admitted following a suicide attempt while incarcerated in 1966
• Eddie Machen{{snds}}boxer; admitted for threatening suicide in 1962
• Earle Nelson{{snds}}serial killer; was sent to Napa several times and escaped prior to his killings
• Henry Peavey{{snds}}cook and valet for William Desmond Taylor; was admitted after being diagnosed with syphilis{{cite book|last=Higham|first=Charles|title=Murder in Hollywood: Solving a Silent Screen Mystery|year=2006|publisher=Terrace Books|isbn=0-299-20364-6|page=189}}
• Bull Perrine{{snds}}baseball umpire; was admitted due to failing health and later died in Napa{{cite web | url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19130918.2.69&cl=search&srpos=1&dliv=none&e=-------en-Logical-20--1----boggs-all--50-1913 | title="Bull" Perrine Sent to Napa Asylum — San Francisco Call 18 September 1913 — California Digital Newspaper Collection | access-date=23 January 2023 | archive-date=22 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022155028/https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19130918.2.69&cl=search&srpos=1&dliv=none&e=-------en-Logical-20--1----boggs-all--50-1913 | url-status=live }}
• William G. Sebold{{snds}}German U.S. citizen and spy; admitted for manic depression in 1965
• Scott Harlan Thorpe{{snds}}spree killer; sentenced to Napa{{Cite news|url=https://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/thorpe-pleads-guilty-to-murder/|title=Thorpe pleads guilty to murder|date=March 21, 2003|work=The Union|location=Nevada County, California|access-date=January 23, 2023|archive-date=September 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930154704/https://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/thorpe-pleads-guilty-to-murder/|url-status=live}}
• Clarice Vance{{snds}}vaudeville personality; died in Napa after being admitted for failing health{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFnfnKg6BcAC|title = Vaudeville old & new: An encyclopedia of variety performances in America|isbn = 9780415938532|last1 = Cullen|first1 = Frank|last2 = Hackman|first2 = Florence|last3 = McNeilly|first3 = Donald|year = 2007| publisher=Psychology Press }}
• Carleton Watkins{{snds}}photographer; was admitted by his daughter{{cite web |url=http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/watkinsbro.htm |title=National Gallery of Art - Carleton Watkins: The Art of Perception |website=www.nga.gov |access-date=14 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050304121537/http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/watkinsbro.htm |archive-date=4 March 2005 |url-status=dead}}

• Matilda Allison{{snds}}educator who taught blind veterans at Napa{{cite web | url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19240412.2.112&srpos=4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-Matilda+Allison-------1 | title=San Pedro News Pilot 12 April 1924 — California Digital Newspaper Collection | access-date=23 January 2023 | archive-date=18 January 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118202129/https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SPNP19240412.2.112&srpos=4&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-Matilda+Allison-------1 | url-status=live }}
• Dorothea Dix{{snds}}psychiatric reformer
• Meredith Hodges{{snds}}psychiatric technician
• Thomas Story Kirkbride{{snds}}physician

• 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.openculture.com/2024/07/the-cramps-play-a-mental-health-hospital-in-napa-california-in-1978.html | title=The Cramps Play a Mental Health Hospital in Napa, California in 1978: The Punkest of Punk Concerts | Open Culture }}{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JnkW2JhHJc | title=The Cramps at the California State Mental Hospital in Napa - Concert 1978 | website=YouTube | date=7 February 2021 }}

• Eugenics in California
• List of hospitals in California
• Matilda Allison

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Napa State Hospital}}

• {{official website}}
• [http://gis.oshpd.ca.gov/atlas/places/facility/106281266 This hospital in the CA Healthcare Atlas – a project by OSHPD]
• [http://www.doctorvista.com/dir/napa-state-hospital-2017396/profile Doctor Vista: Napa State Hospital profile]
• [http://www.arcadiapublishing.com/9781467131995/Napa-State-Hospital Napa State Hospital – a book]

{{Kirkbride Plan}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Psychiatric hospitals in California

Category:Hospitals in Napa County, California

Category:Napa, California

Category:History of Napa County, California

Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1875

Category:Kirkbride Plan hospitals

Category:1875 establishments in California

Category:Hospitals in the San Francisco Bay Area