Evansville State Hospital (Evansville, Indiana)

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Historic Landmarks Foundation 10 Most Endangered (2005)

Evansville State Hospital carried the name Southern Indiana Hospital for the Insane when it was authorized by the legislature in 1883. Like most of Indiana’s state hospitals, the Evansville facility was created in an out-of-the way place on the city’s east side and given a peaceful campus-like design.

The threat: Advancements in medical knowledge and treatment have combined with greater social tolerance and community-based solutions to shrink the populations of state hospitals. As operations at these institutions have been scaled back, their campus-like settings contain many historic structures with cloudy to downright dismal futures. At its height, Evansville State Hospital sheltered 1,500 patients; today, the patient population is less than 200. Four vacant and deteriorating historic buildings at Evansville State Hospital are threatened with demolition including the Gothic Revival style c.1907 laundry, the vernacular c.1920 bakery, c.1927 headquarters/ward building, and the Neoclassical c.1929 auditorium.
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Coordinates:   37°58'23"N   87°30'15"W

Comments

  • Don't for get that Aging Water Tower.
This article was last modified 13 years ago