Napa State Hospital

38°16′41″N 122°16′01″W / 38.27806°N 122.26694°W / 38.27806; -122.26694ServicesHistoryOpened1875LinksWebsiteOfficial website ListsHospitals in California

Napa State Hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Napa, California, founded in 1875. It is located along California State Route 221, the Napa-Vallejo Highway, and is one of California's five state mental hospitals. Napa State Hospital holds civil and forensic mental patients in a sprawling 138-acre campus. According to a hospital spokesperson, there were 2,338 people employed at the facility during the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year, making it one of the region's largest employers.

The Napa Valley Cricket Club played a number of their matches at McGrath Field, a multi-use sports field, at the eastern end of the hospital campus for the 2017 season.

History

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 192 acres (0.8 square kilometers) 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.^[1]

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.^[2]

This hospital was one of the many state asylums that had sterilization centers.^[3] 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).^[4]

In 1978, this hospital was the site of the Cramps concert, when several patients attempted to escape.^[5]

Notable patients

• Edward Charles Allaway – mass murderer; transferred to Napa in 2016^[6]
• Richard Allen Davis – murderer and career criminal; was sent to Napa after faking a suicide attempt so he could escape in 1976^[7]
• Charles E. Huber – businessman; was admitted after increasingly bizarre and violent behavior^[8]
• Chol Soo Lee – immigrant accused of murder; was admitted following a suicide attempt while incarcerated in 1966
• Eddie Machen – boxer; admitted for threatening suicide in 1962
• Earle Nelson – serial killer; was sent to Napa several times and escaped prior to his killings
• Henry Peavey – cook and valet for William Desmond Taylor; was admitted after being diagnosed with syphilis^[9]
• Bull Perrine – baseball umpire; was admitted due to failing health and later died in Napa^[10]
• William G. Sebold – German U.S. citizen and spy; admitted for manic depression in 1965
• Scott Harlan Thorpe – spree killer; sentenced to Napa^[11]
• Clarice Vance – vaudeville personality; died in Napa after being admitted for failing health^[12]
• Carleton Watkins – photographer; was admitted by his daughter^[13]

Notable staff

• Matilda Allison – educator who taught blind veterans at Napa^[14]
• Dorothea Dix – psychiatric reformer
• Meredith Hodges – psychiatric technician
• Thomas Story Kirkbride – physician

In popular culture

• The hospital comes up several times in The 6th Target by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.

See also

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

References

External links

People

Physicians	Thomas Story Kirkbride
Advocates	Dorothea Dix
Architects	Samuel Sloan Elbridge Boyden Nathaniel Bradlee John G. Haskell Levi Scofield Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge Richard Snowden Andrews

Notable buildings

Northeast	New Jersey State Hospital Harrisburg State Hospital Taunton State Hospital Northampton State Hospital Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital Dixmont State Hospital Hudson River State Hospital Danville State Hospital Buffalo State Hospital Warren State Hospital Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital Worcester State Hospital Danvers State Hospital
Mid-Atlantic	St. Elizabeths Hospital Central State Hospital (Virginia) Spring Grove Hospital Center
Midwest	Central State Hospital (Indiana) Jacksonville State Hospital Dayton State Hospital Wisconsin State Hospital Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital Mount Pleasant State Hospital St. Peter State Hospital Anna State Hospital Elgin State Hospital Osawatomie State Hospital Topeka State Hospital Winnebago State Hospital Independence State Hospital Athens Lunatic Asylum Columbus State Hospital Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane Kankakee State Hospital Clarinda State Hospital Northern Michigan Asylum Nevada State Hospital Cherokee Mental Health Institute Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center
South	Western State Hospital Jackson State Hospital Austin State Hospital Bryce Hospital Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Central State Hospital (Kentucky) Broughton Hospital Arkansas State Hospital Terrell State Hospital
West Coast	Agnews State Hospital Eastern Oregon State Hospital Eastern Washington State Hospital Mendocino State Hospital Napa State Hospital Oregon State Hospital Patton State Hospital
Outside the U.S.	Nova Scotia Hospital Callan Park Hospital for the Insane