Spring Grove Hospital Center

Founded in 1797, Spring Grove is the nation's second-oldest psychiatric hospital, though until recently operated as a medical and surgical hospital as well.{{cite web |title=History of Spring Grove Hospital |url=https://health.maryland.gov/springgrove/phototours/Pages/history.aspx |website=health.maryland.gov |access-date=20 June 2019}} Only the Eastern State Hospital which was founded in 1773 in Williamsburg, Virginia, is older. In its long history it has been variously known as The Baltimore Hospital, The Maryland Hospital, The Maryland Hospital for the Insane, and finally as The Spring Grove Hospital Center. It was originally built as a hospital to care for Yellow Fever for the indigent away from the city, as the Maryland Hospital. In 1840 the hospital expanded to exclusively care for the mentally ill. In 1873, the buildings were torn down as the facility relocated to Spring Hill. The original site is now home to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.{{cite book|title=Maryland History in Prints|author=Laura Rice|page=122}}

The present site was purchased in 1852 by which time the original buildings had become inadequate. Dr. Richard Sprigg Steuart, then President of the Board and Medical Superintendent, managed to obtain authorization and funding from the Maryland General Assembly for the construction of the new facility at Spring Grove. In co-operation with the social reformer Dorothea Dix, who in 1852 gave an impassioned speech to the Maryland legislature, Steuart chaired the committee that selected the hospital's present site in Catonsville, and he personally contributed $1,000 towards the purchase of the land.Nelker, 140

The cost of purchasing {{convert|136|acre}} of land for the hospital was $14,000, of which $12,340 was raised through private contributions. The purchase was completed in 1853, but construction of the new buildings was delayed by the Civil War, and the hospital was not finally completed until 1872,[http://www.springgrove.com/history.html#Dorothea%20Dix%20--%20An%20Impassioned%20Plea History of Spring Grove Hospital] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100126030551/http://springgrove.com/history.html |date=2010-01-26 }} Retrieved March 8, 2010 when it was described by one contemporary as "one of the largest and best appointed Insane Asylums in the United States".[https://books.google.com/books?id=UM4VrWHJUaUC&pg=PA50&q=richard%20steuart%20spring%20grove Quinan, John Russell, p.50, Medical Annals of Baltimore from 1608 to 1880] Retrieved March 8, 2010

Steuart's brother, Major General George H. Steuart, had two sons who had mental illness,{{cite web|url=http://www.mdhs.org/library/mss/ms000758.html|title=James E. Steuart Papers, 1785-1955, MS 758 - Maryland Historical Society|website=Mdhs.org|access-date=15 October 2018}} and it is possible that this was one of the causes of Steuart's particular interest in Spring Grove Hospital and the treatment of mental illness.

Steuart's building (known at various times as "The Main Building", "The Center Building" or "The Administration Building,") remained the main hospital facility for almost 100 years.

{{See also|Spring Grove Experiment}}

Steuart's buildings were demolished in 1963, replaced by more modern construction.

Starting in the 1960s and continuing into the 1970s, Spring Grove Hospital Center was the site of an extended research effort to understand potential therapeutic uses for lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Among the aspects studied as part of the Spring Grove Experiment were the potential for psychedelics to aid in recovering from alcoholism and heroin addiction, managing schizophrenia and neurosis, and supporting persons with terminal cancer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309477954|title=Thirty Years of Psychedelic Research: The Spring Grove Experiment and Its Sequels (PDF Download Available)|website=ResearchGate|language=en|access-date=2017-04-22}}

In 2014, Baltimore County plans on subdividing the hospital campus in order to create an 8.8 acre regional park for the Catonsville community.{{cite web|url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/catonsville/ph-ca-spring-grove-0521-20140514,0,1482491.story|title=Baltimore County takes next step to purchase Spring Grove land|author=Lauren Loricchio|website=Baltimoresun.com|access-date=15 October 2018}} Additional plans include expansion of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus south of Wilkens Avenue to the Spring Grove campus, where the university still has the rights to a portion of the property.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mdnewsfeed.com/catonsville/baltimore-county-makes-move-to-purchase-spring-grove-land-for-regional-park/ |title=Baltimore County makes move to purchase Spring Grove land for regional park | Maryland News Feed |access-date=2014-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151012055726/http://www.mdnewsfeed.com/catonsville/baltimore-county-makes-move-to-purchase-spring-grove-land-for-regional-park/ |archive-date=2015-10-12 |url-status=dead }}

In May 2022, Governor Larry Hogan's administration proposed transferring the hospital campus to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for $1.{{cite news |last1=Knezevich |first1=Alison |last2=Stole |first2=Bryn |title=Hogan administration proposes selling Spring Grove Hospital campus in Catonsville to UMBC for $1 |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-spring-grove-20220509-p33emrah6vaybmph2hja3chvyi-story.html |access-date=May 19, 2022 |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=May 9, 2022}} The Maryland Board of Public Works voted 2–1 to approve the sale of the campus, with Hogan and Treasurer Dereck E. Davis supporting the lease agreement and Comptroller Peter Franchot dissenting, on May 15, 2022.{{cite news |last1=Stole |first1=Bryn |title=Hospital sale to UMBC for $1 is approved |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/hospital-sale-to-umbc-for-1-is-approved/2022/05/15/e4fd84cc-d274-11ec-a3af-4b2b966cdb12_story.html |access-date=May 19, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=May 15, 2022}}{{cite news |last1=Gaskill |first1=Hannah |title=Bd. of Public Works OK's Controversial $1 Lease for State Psychiatric Hospital Grounds |url=https://www.marylandmatters.org/2022/05/11/bd-of-public-oks-controversial-1-lease-for-state-psychiatric-hospital-grounds/ |access-date=May 19, 2022 |work=Maryland Matters |date=May 11, 2022}}

• Spring Grove Experiment

• Helsel, David S., and Trevor J. Blank. Spring Grove State Hospital (Images of America: Maryland) Arcadia Publishing, 2008 {{ISBN|978-0-7385-5326-9}}
• Nelker, Gladys P., The Clan Steuart, Genealogical publishing, 1970.

{{Reflist}}

• Spring Grove Baseball Club. Plays on the grounds of Spring Grove Hospital Center at the Weltmer Bowl. http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=shep
• [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738553263 "Spring Grove State Hospital" by David S. Helsel, M.D. and Trevor J. Blank (Arcadia 2008)]
• [https://health.maryland.gov/springgrove/phototours/Pages/history.aspx Spring Grove History Photo Tour] (Maryland Department of Health)

{{Hospitals in Maryland}}

{{Kirkbride Plan}}

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Category:Catonsville, Maryland

Category:Psychiatric hospitals in Maryland

Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1872

Category:Hospitals in Baltimore County, Maryland

Category:Baltimore County, Maryland, landmarks

Category:Kirkbride Plan hospitals