Report on insanity and idiocy in Massachusetts / by the Commission on Lunacy under resolve of the Legislature of 1854.

  • Massachusetts. Commission on Lunacy.
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on insanity and idiocy in Massachusetts / by the Commission on Lunacy under resolve of the Legislature of 1854. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    193/248 (page 181)
    rooms, the narrow halls, the imperfect ventilation of some of the wards,—these must remain as they now are, and some of these must increase and interfere more and more with the usefulness of the institution. With all these alterations and improvements, which will require the expenditure of at least sixty thousand, and more probably seventy-five thousand, dollars, to put the Hospital in the best condition that it may be, it will still be imperfect, inadequate to its purposes, and unsatisfactory. In view of this great cost and unsatisfactory result, the Commissioners think it not expedient to make these thorough repairs, but advise that provision be made, if possible, in some other way for the wants of the insane, more successfully for them, and more advantageously to the interests of the Com- monwealth. Value of the Hospital Estate.—Some of the circumstances and condition of the estate, its situation in the heart of the city, and the streets that run through its lands, which diminish its usefulness for its present purpose, increase its usefulness for other purposes, and give it a value in the market which would not justify the selection of this special location for a Hospital at the present time; while its intrinsic worth and increasing value afford abundant means and opportunities of escaping from these difficulties, and removing these objections hereafter, by the erection of a new structure on a cheaper and more suit- able site. Several gentlemen,* residents of, and engaged in active business in, Worcester, who represent the best commercial, manufacturing and financial talent and experience in the city, were requested to examine and appraise the whole real estate belonging to the Hospital. After careful consideration, they returned the following valuation :— Original lot on which the buildings stand, con- taining the twelve acres, including the build- ings, $70,000 00 * Joseph Mason, Isaac Davis, Samuel Davis, F. H. Kinnicutt, D. S. Messenger, William M. Bickford, W. A. Wheeler, William T. Merrifield, Albert Tolman, Joseph Sargent.