Michigan State Asylum
hospital in Michigan, United States

Michigan State Asylum may refer to any number of early mental institutions in the state. Michigan became a state in 1837 and five years later it was accepted that caring for the mentally afflicted was a state problem. In 1848 a joint resolution required an annual return from the adviser of the number of insane, deaf, dumb, and blind people in the state. In that same year the legislature set aside 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of land for buildings, next year nearly double that amount, and in 1850, 16,000 acres (6,500 ha). Not until 1853 was money, $20,000, appropriated out of the general fund of the state treasury. Many hospitals/prisons have been referred to as "Michigan State Asylum". There were once 16 State-operated psychiatric facilities in Michigan. Between 1987 and 2003 Michigan closed three quarters of its 16 state psychiatric facilities. Here is a partial list.
Traverse City State Hospital in Traverse City - Northern Michigan Asylum
The Newberry State Hospital in Newberry - Michigan State Asylum for the Insane
Ionia State Hospital, Ionia, Michigan, now Riverside Correctional Facility - Michigan State Asylum
Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Kalamazoo - Michigan State Asylum for the Insane
Northville State or Northville Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Northville, Michigan - Michigan State Asylum
Pontiac State or Eastern Michigan Asylum, later renamed the Clinton Valley Center in 1973 in Pontiac, Michigan - Michigan State Asylum
Lapeer State Home and Training School in Lapeer, Michigan
Ypsilanti State Hospital, Ypsilanti, Michigan
The large hospital complex in Nankin Township called Eloise was not a Michigan State Asylum.
The public source identifies “Michigan State Asylum” as hospital in Michigan, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Michigan, State and Asylum.
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This entry incorporates text from “Michigan State Asylum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.