Weston State Hospital

The then Trans-Allegheny Asylum for the Insane, located in Weston in the then-state of Virginia, currently rests abandoned along the banks of the West Fork of the Monongahela River. Crafted of native blue sandstone quarried from the riverbed and the nearby hills of Lewis County, West Virginia (2), the hospital purportedly has the largest hand-cut stone building in North America (1). Design work on the facility for the insane began in 1858 with initial funding from the state of Virginia. It was designed by architect R. Snowden Andrews (4) following an architectural format developed by Dr. Thomas Kirkbride. The basic pattern, replicated at other state mental hospitals in the mid- to late-1800s, features a central administration building and two wings that deviate from the center, one for male patients and the other for females.

Construction on the asylum began in 1858 on a forty-acre tract adjacent to the river. The most southern one-story wing was 'under roof' on July 28, 1860. One year later, the wing was nearly complete and foundations for the remainder of the building were set, however, all construction was halted when Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861 (2). Work did not resume until July 20, 1863 when West Virginia became a state. One of the earliest acts of the new state legislature was to rename the hospital as the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane. One year later, the hospital's patient wing opened.

In 1871, the central clock tower was completed, however, the building began to show signs of extreme stress from the weights of the clock (2). Major repairs were completed and the central structure was saved. Additional wings were nearing completion one year later. In 1880, the main building was completed at a cost of $725,000 and the hospital opened although it was overcrowded. Originally designed to hold only 250 patients, it was accommodating 717. Included in the construction were more than fifteen miles of steam pipe and twenty miles of telephone wire.

In 1913, the asylum was renamed to Weston State Hospital (2).

On October 3, 1935, a major fire ripped through Ward Six of the south wing (2). Parts of the roof collapsed along with the cupola. Two smaller fires did considerable damage soon after, set by a patient of the asylum. The wing was rebuilt at a cost of $115,000 through the Workers Progress Administration. Three years later, a report filed by the Mental Hospital Survey Committee stated that the hospital encompassed 488 acres and a 25 acre farm at Jackson's Mill. It served not only the mentally ill, but "epileptics, alcoholics, drug addicts, and non-educable mental defectives." There were 1661 patients total, 940 men and 721 women. The conditions of the hospital, however, were far from stellar. A lack of beds forced some patients to sleep in cots, rooms had not been painted or freshened, and much of the asylum had not been updated to more contemporary standards. By the start of World War II, consideration was given to replace the then-eighty-year-old hospital with a new facility (2).

By 1949, the hospital was overflowing with patients. According to a report filed by Mrs. Charles Hoag of St. Albans, more than 1,800 were crammed into "long, dreary dormitories" in "miserable, depreciated quarters which could never pass minimum inspection standards for domestic animals." (2) Portions of the hospital that were unaffected by the major fire a few years prior, mainly the north wing, were in decrepit condition, featuring splintered and disgusting floors, a lack of tables and chairs and dimly lit rooms. The portions that were affected and refurbished earlier, the south wing, were on the opposite end of the spectrum, featuring deep carpeting, modern chairs and tables and curtains. Seeing that the hospital was severely overcrowded and in poor condition, renovations were underway by 1951. Upon Senator Robert C. Byrd's visit on February 23, 1951, he noted that the 'entire northern wing had been gutted' and that 'work was progressing on all fronts'; this was the wing . The interior was reconstructed with reinforced pre-cast concrete slabs for flooring, and new carpeting and furnishing were installed. This did little to solve the overcrowding issues, however, as patients tipped the scales at 2400 by the mid 1950s.

Campus

The main building features two double-sectioned wings joined in the center by a central administration building (2). The central structure features a clock tower that reaches 200 feet above the ground (2), while four cupolas reach 150 feet in the air. The walls are constructed of solid sandstone, backed with brick and are 2.5 feet thick. The central asylum structure features 921 windows and 906 doors, a full basement with dirt floors, and a reinforced-concrete floor for the other interior floors. A ballroom on the third floor of the central building was utilized by the local community and the hospital; it was where 'cotillions and chautauquas' were held. The slate roof, supported by timbers, was later replaced by rubberized roofing and asphalt tiles.

Other buildings that were completed include additional patient care and food preparation buildings, dairy and beef barns, a reservoir and water treatment plant, oil and gas wells, coal mines, ice plant, chapel and morgue. Four cemeteries were also on-site.

The campus encompasses 39 acres of park-like grounds, while the asylum-managed farm adds another 276 acres; the farm is managed by the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. Later acquisitions added enough acreage to total 666. The front and north side of the hospital feature a Victorian wrought-iron fence that was installed in 1892.

Closure

New treatments in mental health care brought a dramatic reduction in patients by the 1980s. In February 1986 (2), Governor Arch Moore announced plans for a new mental treatment facility and to convert the Weston asylum into a prison. Numerous court battles and petitions ensued, followed by a misguided ground-breaking for the proposed facility at Jane Lew. Eventually, the new hospital, titled the William R. Sharpe Jr. Hospital, opened in 1994 on some acreage owned by the State of West Virginia around the Weston State Hospital. The historic structure was closed to public use and until 1996, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources maintained the structure.

In 1999, Senator Robert C. Byrd and the West Virginia Congressional Delegation acquired $750,000 in a 'Save America's Treasures Grant' for rehabilitation work on the historic hospital (2). This was matched by an equal amount from the state legislature. These monies came soon after the former asylum made national news when thousands of dollars in vandalism occurred at the hands of the local Weston police (1). One year later, Governor Cecil B. Underwood created the Weston Hospital Task Force to manage the grant, however, the November 2000 election and other circumstances slowed any doings from the task force. Finally, work on the structure began in June 2001. The Weston Hospital Revitalization Committee was formed soon after to explore adaptive reuse options. One such idea is to create a 'National Museum of the Civil War' (1).

Links

1. Article at the Post Gazette
2. Article at the West Virginia Division of Culture
3. Weston Hospital Revitalization Committee
4. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

Sources