The stories that Allie is sharing today come from the real patients that sought treatment at the Binghamton State Hospital, which opened in 1879. It is important to acknowledge that while the Greater Binghamton Health Center is currently still functional on the State Hospital campus, these stories are specifically from the patients of the inebriate asylum.
Perched above the Susquehanna River at 425 Robinson Street in Binghamton, New York, stands a Gothic revival behemoth, once a pioneer in the treatment of alcoholism—this is the Castle on the Hill. Chartered in 1854 under Dr. Joseph Edward Turner, the institution was the first in the United Statesto treat alcoholism as a mental disease Designed by architect Isaac G. Perry, construction began in 1857 and admitted its first patients in February 1864.
Allie and I have a little bit more fun with this episode telling the stories. But we also just wanted to make note that Roger Luther — who has studied the history of not only the Binghamton hospital but also its counterparts in Buffalo, Utica and Willard — said his research about the Castle has convinced him that the overwhelmingly majority of Binghamton staffers wanted to help those they cared for, even if treatments such as electroshock therapy and lobotomies are now discredited. “I couldn’t have more respect for the people who worked there,” he said. “Their intentions were nothing but the best for the patients. They loved the patients — it was like a family atmosphere.” As new drugs like Thorazine — the first effective antipsychotic medication — were introduced in the mid-1950s, societal thinking about institutionalizing the mentally ill began to shift. Also, with the passage of Medicaid in 1965, the federal government encouraged states to move patients out of mental hospitals because the program excluded coverage for people in “institutions for mental diseases.
Thank you Roger Luther and the Souther Tier Preservation Society for keeping these stories accessible, for helping our community remember its history and for the work that keeps Binghamton culture alive and well.
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