Which psychiatric hospital was federally rather than privately funded, St. Elizabeths Hospital or Psychiatric Institute of Washington?
St. Elizabeths Hospital St. Elizabeths Hospital opened in 1855 as the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the United States. Housing over 8,000 patients at its peak in the 1950s, the hospital at one point had a fully functioning medical-surgical unit, a school of nursing, and accredited internships and psychiatric residencies. Its campus was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990.
Harry C. Solomon Harry C. Solomon (1889–1982), an American neurologist, psychiatrist, researcher, administrator, and clinician, was among the first to advocate for major changes in public psychiatry. He called for the closure of large, public mental hospitals and replaced with community-based facilities.