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Passages: Portraits of Worcester State Hospital

In many ways, the history of Worcester State Hospital is the history of care for the mentally ill in the United States. Debates about the causes of mental illness, curability, most appropriate care, and how to conduct research were first discussed comprehensively at WSH.

The building itself reflects an ideological battle fought in the 1870’s: a belief in therapeutic care versus custodial care. Merrick Bemis, WSH Superintendent beginning in 1856, favored the European therapeutic model for mental hospitals. He hoped to create a network of cottages where patients would live and work under the supervision of farming families with institutional care limited to the chronic mentally ill. Pliny Early, the Superintendent of the Northampton, Massachusetts State Hospital, argued for a more centralized approach, where the chief medical officer of the hospital would maintain strict watch over the patients under his supervision.

Worcester State Hospital followed the therapeutic model: the four-story administrative clock tower building stood at the center of 500- foot wings, divided into separate wards with dining, bathing, and exercise facilities. Behind the main building were dormitories for the staff, a chapel and kitchen. Several hundred acres of surrounding farmland were worked for decades by the patients, ostensibly for their benefit, providing financial stability for the hospital.

On July 22, 1991 Worcester State Hospital caught fire. After a nine-hour blaze all that remained intact was the clock tower and a few side buildings. The bulk of the building has since fallen to the wrecker’s ball. These portraits of WSH were produced in order to interpret and provide a record of a building that has played such a significant role in the history of American psychiatry and care for the mentally ill