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Note: this project is a work in progress begun 6/1/2024 by curator DVB as a bucket for the 71 patient inmate profiles of those patients transferred from the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians in Canton, Lincoln, South Dakota upon its closing in December 1933. 69 patients were transferred on December 22, 1933, and 2 patients who had been too ill to travel a week earlier were transferred on December 30, 1933.
The names are taken from a list requesting funds "for the board and care of Indian patients, transferred to St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington DC from Canton Asylum, Canton South Dakota..." The request is dated January 3, 1934, and signed by M. Sanger, assistant to the superintendent, and can be found in RG 418, entry 13, box 1, NARA, Washington DC.
Early History
St. Elizabeths Hospital was organized by Congress in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane but is known as St. Elizabeths after the name of the land on which the hospital was constructed. Noted social reformer Dorothea Lynde Dix, a devoted advocate for the mentally ill, and Dr. Charles Henry Nichols, a physician who specialized in the treatment of mental illness, convinced Congress to purchase the original 189 acres to establish and fund the hospital. St. Elizabeths was instrumental in developing standards of care for state hospital systems in the United States.
(Source: “GSA Development of St. Elizabeths Campus.” Www.stelizabethsdevelopment.com, www.stelizabethsdevelopment.com/index.html. Accessed 1 June 2024.)
St. Elizabeths Hospital, Government Hospital for the Insane, the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the United States.
Saint Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., formerly known as the Government Hospital for the Insane
Center Building at St Elizabeths c 1852 – 1877 Courtesy of St. Elizabeths Hospital
Nichols, Charles H, et al. Maps of Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Washington D.C. [Washington: U.S. Senate, ?, 1860] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/88693084/>.
Race at St. Elizabeths
This photograph from 1925 shows the crowded beds of St. Elizabeths African American patients. (National Archives Identifier 5664745)
Segregation by race—African Americans were housed in one wing & eventually their own buildings (Howard Hall/criminals being somewhat of an exception). Segregation remained in place well into the 1950s.
Work gang (black patients) at St. Elizabeths, 1897. (National Archives Identifier 5664743)
Black female patients at work in the St. Elizabeths laundry, 1918. (National Archives Identifier 5664594).
Dorothea Dix (1802–1887)
Thomas Story Kirkbride (1809-1883)
Though it was one of many Kirkbride hospitals around the country, St. Elizabeths, in Southeast D.C., was unique. It not only cared for District residents, but as a federal institution, it was also responsible for veterans’ care, a connection that lasted until the 1940s.
Recent History
The only architectural component kept was the exterior walls
The renovated exterior
Washington, D.C. (February 2, 2021) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas participates in a flag raising ceremony after being sworn in as the department's seventh secretary.
East Campus
West Campus
Facilities and Grounds
East and West Cemeteries
Open Issue: This source, Saint Elizabeths Hospital Cemetery Restoration Project, Trinkley, M., Hacker, D. Southerland, N., PRESERVATION ASSESSMENT OF ST. ELIZABETHS EAST CAMPUS CEMETERY, WASHINGTON, DC 1–102 (2009). Columbia, SC; Chicora Foundation, Inc. https://chicora.org/pdfs/RC514.pdf
Restoration Projects
1. Saint Elizabeths Hospital Cemetery Restoration Project, Trinkley, M., Hacker, D. Southerland, N., PRESERVATION ASSESSMENT OF ST. ELIZABETHS EAST CAMPUS CEMETERY, WASHINGTON, DC 1–102 (2009). Columbia, SC; Chicora Foundation, Inc. https://chicora.org/pdfs/RC514.pdf, suggests that eleven (11) patients were buried in the East Campus Cemetery and the list with graves attached. However, there is a document that suggests a contractual relationship between St. Elizabeths Hospital and the W.W. Deal Funeral Home in which W.W. Deal would return bodies to the families or as directed by the Indian Agent. These lists are identical (this would appear to be nothing more than left-hand right-hand confusion but deserves to be resolved.
Research Notes
-17 Canton patients who reached St. Elizabeths were released as sane.
-Only 9 patients who reached St. Elizabeths had any kind of court records that showed legal commitment.
-One of the sane 17, Rosa Bite, died at the age of 34 of advanced pulmonary tuberculosis the day before she would have been released.
Sources and Recommended Reading/Viewing
1. Otto, Thomas. St. Elizabeths Hospital: A History. United States General Services Administration, 2013. @
2. National Historic Landmark Nomination of St. Elizabeths Hospital.
3. “GSA Development of St. Elizabeths Campus.” Www.stelizabethsdevelopment.com, www.stelizabethsdevelopment.com/index.html. Accessed 1 June 2024.
4. “St Elizabeth’s Hospital Was Renovated by Only Preserving the Façade.” Themindcircle, 19 June 2023, themindcircle.com/st-elizabeths-hospital/. Accessed 1 June 2024.
5. Lustrea, John. “St. Elizabeth Hospital in the Civil War.” National Museum of Civil War Medicine, 25 Nov. 2020, www.civilwarmed.org/st-elizabeths-hospital/.
6. Leavitt, Sarah. “St. Elizabeths Hospital | C-SPAN.org.” Www.c-Span.org, 9 May 2017, www.c-span.org/video/?431999-1/st-elizabeths-hospital. Accessed 14 July 2024. (video)
7. DC Preservation League. “St. Elizabeths Hospital Virtual Tour with the DC Preservation League.” YouTube, 29 Jan. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFcyoPUJ-98&t=1916s. Accessed 14 July 2024. (video)
8. CSPAN3. “American Artifacts History of St. Elizabeths Hospital 1852-2017 : CSPAN3 : November 21, 2020 10:00am-11:00am EST.” Internet Archive, 21 Nov. 2020, archive.org/details/CSPAN3_20201121_150000_American_Artifacts_History_of_St._Elizabeths_Hospital_1852-2017/start/3402/end/3462. Accessed 14 July 2024. (video)