Second biennial report of the Board of Trustees and officers of the Minnesota Hospital for Insane (organized 1866) located at St. Peter : and Second Minnesota Hospital for Insane (organized 1877) located at Rochester to the governor of Minnesota for the fiscal years 1881-2.

  • Minnesota Hospital for Insane.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second biennial report of the Board of Trustees and officers of the Minnesota Hospital for Insane (organized 1866) located at St. Peter : and Second Minnesota Hospital for Insane (organized 1877) located at Rochester to the governor of Minnesota for the fiscal years 1881-2. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    roof and slated. On tlie opening of spring, work recommenced and the building is now substantially completed and ready for oc¬ cupancy. The new walls have been laid in cement, and the iron joists and brick arches make the building essentially fire-proof. Some alterations in the interior have made the halls more cheerful in appearance, and the arrangements more convenient than before. We hope the Board will find the work in all respects equal to their intentions and expectations. In the fall of 1881, anticipating that no part of the new wing would be ready for patients until another year, and the demand for the admission of patients being urgent your committee caused a tem¬ porary frame building to be erected near the permanent hospital for the accommodation of male patients. This wTas opened the last of November for use, and has furnished quarters for seventy-five per¬ sons in comparative comfort. It is lighted and warmed by gas and steam taken from the main supply. In January, 1882, a frame building that had been built and occu¬ pied as a temporary hospital in town was destroyed by fire ; no patient was lost or injured, and a considerable portion of the furni¬ ture was saved. To meet the immediate necessity for accommoda¬ tions, a private dwelling was rented in the neighborhood, and a small frame building purchased and moved on the premises. In In these two buildings forty patients have been provided for until the present time. The rented house is now abandoned and the other will be occupied for the present in connection with the other buildings for hospital use. The frame building for a piggery, authorized by your Board, has been completed. It is 105 feet long, 20 feet wide, 14 feet high in front and 8 feet in rear. It has a room with two boilers for warm¬ ing food, and there is also some space for straw and grain storage. A brick ash and kitchen offal house has been erected, also a corn crib. This includes all the building for the past two years. Repairs have been made under our direction as follows: The attic of the south wing has been improved and protected from fire originating in an}r room or hall below, by connecting each ventilat¬ ing flue, which opened in the attic chamber, by an iron pipe to iron ventilators through and above the ridge of the roof, in no place allowing the pipes to come in contact with any wood. This is not only a means of safety from accidental fire, but an advantage to the ventilation of all the rooms and halls, as now no foul air, as formerly, can by counter currents of wind be returned to the build¬ ing from the attic.