Dayton State Hospital--First Called Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum

In 1851, Ohio had only one asylum in Columbus, known as the Ohio Lunatic Asylum.  Its capacity was 300 patients, but it was estimated that there were 2000 insane in the state.  Professor S. M. Smith recommended that two additional asylums be built.  The legislature passed an act in April of 1852 and appropriated $150,000 to build the two asylums.  On July 9, 1852, Dayton was selected as one of the sites, as was Newburgh.  On September 1, the site at Wayne Avenue was chosen.  The county paid $500 toward the land, and citizens donated the rest.  The total cost of the building was $110,000.  As a result of the Dayton building, similar buildings were built in almost every state in America.  Introduction of this innovative design placed the Dayton Mental Health Facility in the forefront of asylum care in the United States for many years.  

The institution opened in September of 1855 with 59 patients.  At this time, very little had been done to the ground, and there was no smoke or icehouse.  The institution was reorganized in April of 1856, and a new superintendent was named.  The patient number increased to 153.  On October 8, 1858, the roof of the southwest wing blew off in a storm.  The grading of the hospital ground was completed in 1861 at a cost of nearly $6,000.  Most of the landscaping was done by a German immigrant, Joseph B. Hess, who earned a reputation for growing palms.  In 1862, 24 more acres of land were purchased for $3,750, and in 1865, the number of patients rose to 171.  In 1866, a kitchen and rear corridor were added, and $40,000 was appropriated to build two new wings.  By 1872, the average number of patients was 609, far exceeding the state goal number of 250.  A canning factory once operated by the patients was torn down in 1878, and a two-story brick building (built in 1845 as a stage coach stable) was also torn down.  By November 15, 1878, the total cost of the land and building was $520,000.  The property comprised 190 acres, with the main building being 800 feet long with 10 female and 9 male patient wards.  The building also had an excellent water supply.  Between the years of 1881 and 1905, 6 fireplugs were added to the front of the building.  Together with 7 hydrants at the rear of the building, it was now possible to throw streams of water over every part of the building.  A new lake was made, and a deer park constructed on the site of a former hog lot, making 3 ponds on the grounds to be used in case of fire.  Other improvements during this period consisted of an addition on the rear of the main building which added 18 rooms for employees (which now numbered 97) and 6 rooms added to the back of the Administration building.  The Chapel was built in back of the Amusement Hall, which was also increased by 25%.  In 1881, telephones were installed in the buildings, and a new gas works was built at a cost of about $10,000.  In 1909, additional land of 576 acres was purchased for $80,000.  This land was originally a part of the Shaker settlement called Watervliet.  The land was east of the hospital about 5 miles.  This land was to be used as farmland for the asylum and to support other purposes connected to the hospital.  This farm allowed the asylum to be self-sufficient as the inmates raised their own livestock and produce.

Although insane asylums can conjure up negative images and patients were stigmatized, one must realize that when the Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum was in its prime, it must have been a truly incredible building.  The site, located at 2335 Wayne Avenue, is one of the most beautiful in Dayton.  The institution is a Victorian Italianate four-story structure built of eight course American brick with a high stone foundation with a stone water table.  The main building has an overall façade length of 940 feet.  The cupola had an octagonal dome with porthole windows and was crowned with a belvedere and finial.  The beautiful old dome at the center of the building was 20 feet in diameter and was covered with solid copper.  This cupola was lost to fire at 6:00 a.m. on July 9, 1983 and could not be saved.

At one time, the asylum had over 77 buildings.  These included a kitchen, an icehouse, a smokehouse, a carpenter shop, a dairy, a laundry, green houses, a machine shop, a chapel, a sewing room and a power plant.  The grounds had three lakes and a deer park.  The site was considered a tourist attraction.  The Dayton Chamber of Commerce invited railroad passengers to spend several days in Dayton.  One of the attractions they could visit was the insane asylum.  The Wayne Avenue Hill Car (car 3), a small horse-drawn trolley, was marked ASYLUM and could take sightseers to the hospital.  Also in the 1900s, a trolley car traveled to the hospital from downtown Dayton at regular hours.  The grounds and building all became a part of Dayton in 1929.

The Southern Ohio Asylum, later called the Dayton State Hospital, was from the outside a tremendous structure, like other state institutions, it fell into disrepair.  Reports of overcrowding and patient neglect were common.  Funding and staff were cut back, and by the early 1970s, the facility was failing as an institution.  It was closed in 1979, and the mental health function was moved to 2611 Wayne Avenue.  The old facility was to be razed on January 30, 1979, but due to the efforts of Alice Woodward and neighborhood historic districts, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places which barred demolition.  

In 1982, plans had been made  for the site to become a retirement home.  Columbus architect, Antonio Colasinco (a graduate of Alter High School in Dayton) did the rehab and design work.  But before the purchase took place, the entire central building roof and dome were destroyed by fire in 1983.This required difficult restoration.  The main building was completely gutted.  The remaining roof portions, all floors and load-bearing walls were removed.  Only the front and side brick facades were kept.  These had to be braced to prevent collapsing. The renovation totaled $20,000,000 and housed 253 apartments with a total square footage of 327,000 including 45,000 square feet of activity area.

10 Wilmington Place, the new name for the building, is beautiful.  

The site at 2335 Wayne Avenue has had an interesting history.  It was chosen as a site for a state mental institution.  The hospital operated for 124 years at that site.  It withstood the many changes, both positive and negative, that occurred in institutionalized mental health care.  It was a tourist attraction; it was a relief to some, a hell to others.  Local legends still abound about what really went on in the asylum walls.  It is true that the hospital would sound a whistle to warn neighboring houses when an inmate escaped.  There really was a tunnel system that linked each building underground, and a tunnel did go underneath Wilmington Avenue linking the east wards and the cemetery to the main grounds.  The hospital did have its own graveyard, marked with simple limestone numbers.  This is now a part of Woodland cemetery and is inaccessible to the public.  Many of the old state asylums were abandoned, demolished and sold off.  The land specifications used to choose those sites have now made them prime real estate.  The primary buildings of the Old Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum have been turned into a beautiful retirement facility.  10 Wilmington Place includes 26 acres of land.  The balance of the hospital land was eventually sold off or donated.  Some of the land went to the University of Dayton, Woodland Cemetery and what is now Research Park Boulevard on Patterson Road.