Austin LaBau, Utah State University
History and Sociology
At the beginning of the 19th century, there was only one public insane asylum in the United States. Together, this facility and a handful of private hospitals housed only a few hundred patients. By 1890, more than 74,000 Americans lived in mental institutions. A wealth of literature exists on the rise of the American insane asylum during this period; the evolution of modern psychiatry; and the philosophical, political, social, and ethical implications of the two. But what the literature lacks is a perspective on the rise of the asylum that recognizes its place in the developing urban environment. This project addresses that shortcoming by exploring a small group of institutions within the context of a single urban center; New York. In 1890, one-in-twenty-five Americans lived in what would soon become New York City’s five boroughs, alongside nearly one-in-ten of the country’s institutionalized insane. Upon opening, NYC’s massive insane asylums became a source of pride for city’s elites. Far from being hidden away, most of the asylums were built on islands in the East River—at the time, one of the busiest waterways in the world. Nestled between Brooklyn and Manhattan, the imposing structures and their residents lived in clear view of thousands of daily commuters, and inspired numerous poems, novels, and songs. However, it was not their largess that attracted international visitors like Charles Dickens and Alexis de Tocqueville, but the unique circumstances in which they operated. Throughout the 19th century, the intimate nature of NYC, where masses of impoverished immigrants lived only blocks from some of the richest and most powerful men in the world, helped make the city the site of violent class warfare, as well as a testing ground for social reform. Insane asylums were only a portion of NYC’s sprawling public welfare system, consisting of nearly a hundred public and private charitable institutions inn Manhattan alone. To explain how the insane asylum affected New York City, I examine essays, and photographs written and taken by doctors, patients, reporters, and reformers illustrate the significance of the insane asylum on New York City life.