Kirkbride Buildings - Historic Insane Asylums Forum

This is to clarify that the name Reynolds was attached to the main building at the Independence State Hospital as an upshot of the first superintendent being named Albert Reynolds. It was never the Reynolds mansion. It first began to receive patients on May 1, 1873. Actually, it took another ten years to complete the total structure, 720 feet long.
The name Reynolds was not given to this main building until several decades later, at which time several superintendents were honored posthumously by having buildings at the Independence facility named after them, i.e., Max Witte, James Cromwell, and, of course, Reynolds, etal.
If you have specific questions, I would be happy to assist, for I spent 30 years assembling a museum at the then Independence Mental Health Institute (1964-1994), which spoke to the treatments utilized and environment down through the years.

Thanks for the clarification, Travis.

Thanks too for assembling the museum. You did a really nice job.

Do you happen to know the last year the Kirkbride was in full use? When I visited a few years back, there were some unused areas. I'm just curious about when parts of the building started to be emptied.

Thank you and I was also glad to learn that you had seen the "Days of Yore."

The nadir of the Independence hospital as a treatment facility were those days just before, during and shortly after the 2nd World War. A total of 1200 patients were jammed together in 24 wards in the Main (Reynolds) Building, with another 600 in outlying buildings.

Improvements in treatments and staffing began circa 1951, by dint of a powerhouse superintendent named Max Witte. Overcrowding diminished and wards began to close. By 1964, there were only 18 wards operating in the Reynolds Building and by 1994, only 6 of the original 24. I understand there are no pyschiatric patients in this building today.

While it is only my opinion, I believe that the Reynolds (Kirkbride) after 135 years, is still today the finest in the Independence Mental Health Institute. I feel that the administration should have optimized its use in stead of moving out of it and re-modeling elsewhere on the grounds. The movement of air and light in Reynolds Building were superb and patients could largely have their own rooms, with the accompanying dignity this afforded. Thomas Storey Kirkbride was in a league of his own, and some of the ensuing concepts of how to put together a psychiatric hospital, to me, have been frequently regressive.

Travis, I work at what remains of the Mental Health Institute. Although, I do not work with the patients, the past 13 years I have been a youth counselor for Four Oaks of Iowa, who lease a part of the facility. This is what I ended up doing despite getting my BA in History.
I have always had it in the back of my mind to assemble a printed history of this extremely interesting facility, but it does seem to be hard to come by accurate information on MHI's history--(except for your wonderful museum)--do you have any tips or advice that this wanna-be historian might pursue?
Any help or info would be appeciated, Thanks, Pete

I am interested in the MHI history and outbuildings. Is there any history of what the other building where used for... any old maps... I walked the area years ago and felt such a "pull" to learn more. Now I work in the Indedepence area in Human Services.......