Information
on the operation of the Western State Hospital (formerly Western State Lunatic
Asylum) in Hopkinsville is not easily found so it was a thrill to find a couple of newspaper
articles describing changes in the administration in 1916[1] and
additional information on the staff in 1917.[2] You will
recall the hospital was also featured in this blog Here
According to
the first article, Dr. Fred G. LaRue of Smithland succeeded Dr. H.P. Sights as
Superintendent. Dr. LaRue was described
as a pleasant-faced gentleman of middle age. He was stoutly build, beardless
and wore glasses. His family consisted
only of his mother.
Another
Smithland resident, Miss Bessie Smith, was secretary.
Dr. Harry G.
Sanders was continuing as first assistant physician and Dr. W.W. Durham of
Christian County was succeeding Dr. Robinson as second assistant.
A
representative of the Smithland Enterprise
visited the Western State Hospital at Hopkinsville in March 1917 and reported
that under Dr. LaRue's superintendency the hospital seemed to be "managed with efficiency
and the employees and inmates are under splendid rules of discipline."[3]
Mrs. Brown,
the Matron, looked after the supplies and the cooking as well as the sanitary
conditions of the institution.
Harry Wilson
was the Gate-keeper and Lewis Conner was assistant electrician. Mrs. Connor was in charge of the sewing room.
Jim Hodge and wife[4]
were doing well and are very well satisfied with their surroundings.
Mrs. Browning was in bed suffering from
rheumatism, but hoped to be able to visit Smithland and Livingston county
friends when spring weather arrived. The sanitary condition maintained at the
hospital was one of its chief points of interest. There could be learned a
valuable lesson, if the house keepers of the country and towns would visit this
place and see how clean it is.
The farm consisted
of 720 acres of land on which were grown vegetables, corn, hay, tobacco and
other crops, under the management of Mr. Byars. There are 67 cows giving milk
at an average flow of three gallons each. Steam and electric power ran
everything, furnishing light, heat and water in abundance. A large motor truck
hauls coal from the railroad, making the trip in less than an hour, carrying
several tons every trip.
Western
State Hospital had been established in 1848. At the end of the fiscal year
1915, there were 540 white male patients, 481 white female patients, 170
colored male patients and 161 colored female patients.[5]
[1]
"W.S. Hospital New Superintendent
and Other Officials in Office To-day," Hopkinsville
Kentuckian, Tues., 1 Aug 1916, p. 1.
[2]
"A Visit to the State Hospital," Hopkinsville Kentuckian (reprinted from the Smithland Enterprise) Sat., 31 March 1917, p. 4.
[3]
Ibid.
[4]
There is no indication if Jim Hodge and wife were part of the hospital staff or
were inmates.
[5]
Frank K. Kavanaugh. Kentucky Directory
for the Use of Courts State & County
Officials and General Assembly of State of Kentucky, 1916.
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