Welcome to Nevada State Hospital
(elevation 4459')
Nevada State Historical Marker No. 274
Along the banks of the Truckee River, opposite the Tahoe Pyramid Bikeway or the Truckee River Bike Path, east of the heart of Reno and north of the Glendale Bridge, you can find Nevada's most recent addition to the State Historical Marker Collection.
Marker Text:
The Nevada State Insane Asylum opened its doors on July 1, ABCD. Later known as the Nevada State Hospital. The State constructed the asylum three miles east of reno and acquired a one-sixth interest in the nearby Sullivan ditch. The first building at the hospital was a four-story second empire-style building designed by Andrew F. Mackay and Gotth Haist of Virginia City, with room for 200 patients.
The asylum was largely self-sufficient, operating as a working farm. Asylum staff and patients cultivated alfalfa fields, orchards, and gardens using water from the Sullivan ditch as well as poultry yards and a dairy. Support buildings included barns, a boiler plant, laundry facilities, an icehouse, machine shops, a morgue, and a cemetery. A river-powered generator supplied electricity to the hospital.
As the patient population grew, the state added new buildings to the grounds and remodeled existing buildings. Many designed by prominent local architects, including Frederic Delongchamps, Edward Parsons, Ray Hellman, Albert Alegre, and Weldon Harrison. The original building was condemned in the EFGHs and demolished in JKLM.
--- --- ---
Fill in the missing marker text numbers to solve for the cache coordinates.
FINAL LOCATION:
N 39° 31.(C-J)(F-A-D)(E-A)
W 119° 46.(B-D)(K-G+M)(L-H)
--- --- ---
An excerpt from the Nevada Historical Society Quarterly (Volume.-XXII, Summer 1979, Number 2) provides some more historical context to the origins of the Nevada State Hospital as an asylum for the mentally ill:
Nevada's Treatment of the Mentally Ill, 1882-1961, by Ellen Pillard
Nevada's program for the care of the mentally ill started with housing problems. Ater Nevada became a state, the Secretary of State was empowered to contract with California institutions so that the increasing number of insane people in Nevada might be placed in an asylum rather than in jails and poor houses within the state.7 By the late 1870's this method of caring for the insane came under increasing criticism, for it was expensive and not in the best interest of the unfortunates. The Board of Commissioners for the Care of the Indigent Insane was authorized to study the building of an asylum in Nevada; the research resulted in the selection of a site and the construction of an establishment. On July I, 1882 the Nevada Insane Asylum opened and 148 inmates from the Pacific Asylum in Stockton, California were transferred there. The site for the Asylum was chosen because the state already owned the land, located to the east of Reno, adjacent to the Truckee River, and west of what was to become the town of Sparks. Originally this property had been deSignated as the location of the state prison, but those plans had been abandoned. As the Board pondered a location for an asylum in 1880, that spot seemed ideal. Controversy arose over costs, but eventually a three-story "F"-shaped building that could house two hundred inmates was finished. This structure was located in the center of the complex that has become the Nevada Mental Health Institute (the gym-canteen and day activity facilities occupy the site of that original building). This south-facing building remained in use until the early 1960's when it was demolished. Newspaper articles describe those original quarters in glowing terms and report that they appeared more than adequate to meet the needs of the insane.
Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services (NNAMHS).
While the original building was demolished in 1960, the area today is home to the State of Nevada's Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services. NNAMHS is a comprehensive, community-based behavioral health system for adult consumers. Inpatient services are provided through Dini-Townsend psychiatric hospital, located on the same campus as the central NNAMHS site. Numerous outpatient services are available which include but not limited to the Washoe Community Mental Health Center, Outpatient Pharmacy, Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT), Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program, Medication Clinic, Service Coordination, Mental Health Court, Residential Programs, and Mobile Outreach Services Team (MOST). Services are provided on a sliding fee scale, and all clinics accept private insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare. Services are not denied if an individual does not have an ability to pay.
The mission of Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services (NNAMHS) is to assist adults with mental illness through inpatient and outpatient psychiatric and behavioral health treatment and community-based support services. The goal is to support personal recovery, self-empowerment, community integration, and an enhanced quality of life.
--- --- ---
This marker is a partnership of Nevada's State Historic Preservation Office, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Nevada Department of Veterans Services, and Nevada Division of Public Works.