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"In faith and hope the
world will disagree,
But all mankind's concerned in charity;
All must be false that thwart this one great end,
And all of God that bless mankind or mend."
ALEXANDER POPE, "Essay on Man."
THE LONGVIEW ASYLUM
For many years an embarrassing and increasing number of
incurable lunatics had been confined in the old Commercial
hospital in Cincinnati. By midsummer of 1853, one
hundred and forty-seven inmates were confined in the lunatic
department of that institution, and
Page 201
it was considered injudicious and even dangerous to receive
any more. A communication setting forth these facts
was made by the board of directors of the city infirmary to
the board of commissioners for Hamilton county, and on the
twenty-fourth of August, of the same year, the commissioners
appointed Messers. J. J. Quinn, David Judkins, and
A. S. Dandridge, all M. D's, as a committee of
examination and report upon the condition and demands of the
unfortunates. These gentlemen did prompt, faithful and
intelligent duty, and soon reported ably and at length,
setting forth the absolute necessity of further provision
for the insane of Cincinnati and Hamilton county. They
were then authorized to ascertain where a temporary asylum
could be located; and their next report recommended the
lease of the mansion and grounds of Mr. Ames, on Lick
run, near the city, at eight hundred dollars per year.
The report was accepted by the commissioners, and Sept. 1,
1853, only three weeks and two days after the original
complaint of the infirmary directors was made, the
arrangement with Mr. Ames was effected and a
commencement made of preparations for the reception of
lunatic patients in his building. On the third
of the following October, Dr. Quinn, of the
committee, was appointed superintendent of the new asylum.
The better conditions of situation, living, attendance,
etc., greatly ameliorated the physical and mental state of
the afflicted ones, and the reputation of the new asylum
soon brought large additions to its numbers, two hundred and
ninety-six patients, or more than double the number before
mentioned as confined in the old Commercial hospital at the
time of the change, being inmates at the period of their
removal to the institution at Carthage in the spring of
1860. During the time (nearly seven years) the Lick
Run asylum was maintained, its cost to the county was but
one hundred and eighty thousand, four hundred and
eighty-three dollars and seventy-seven cents, or an average
of about twenty-six thousand dollars a year. This
includes the expense of refitting and furnishing it at the
beginning of its occupat00ion, and at the close putting it
again in order for its owners, as a residence.
Preparations were not long delayed for the construction
of a more permanent retreat for the insane of the county.
The Lick Run asylum had scarcely been secured, and the
lunatic patients transferred from the Commercial hospital,
when the board of commissioners moved for the erection of a
more spacious and permanent institution. On the twenty-fifth
of October, 1853, they ordered advertisement to be made "to
the proprietors of lands in Hamilton county," that they
desired to "purchase an entire tract of land of fifty or
sixty acres within twelve miles of the city of Cincinnati,
for the purpose of a county poor house and lunatic asylum.
Sealed proposals of the terms of sale, with a correct
surveyed description of said tracts of land, with its
natural and artificial advantages, will be received from
proprietors until the eighth day of November, 1853, at the
auditor's office." Many land owners in various parts of
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1827, and two years afterwards the State colored patients
therein numbered but fourteen, equally divided as to the
sexes.
There are about ninety officers and employes connected
with the institution, which, with the patients, make about
seven hundred and fifty to be accommodated in the present
buildings.
THE COUNTY INFIRMARY.
- END OF THE COUNTY INSTITUTIONS -
CHAPTER XV - |
