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Anoka State Hospital

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Aerial view of Anoka State Hospital, 1937.

Aerial view of Anoka State Hospital, 1937.

When the fourth state hospital for the insane at Anoka opened in 1900, it became the first state transfer hospital for patients considered incurably insane. The hospital was the first in Minnesota to be built according to the cottage plan to reduce the institutional feel for its chronic patients. It remains one of the finest examples of the cottage plan in Minnesota.

Overcrowding of Minnesota's mental institutions was a chronic issue around the turn of the twentieth century. Three asylums were already operating in Rochester, Fergus Falls, and St. Peter when planning began for the fourth. A commission formed in 1895 to find a site for the first state transfer hospital for the incurably insane. The commission chose a roughly 650-acre site along the Rum River in Anoka. Building began in June 1899, with plans designed by the state architect for the Board of Control, Clarence H. Johnston, Sr.

The first 100 patients transferred to Anoka were all men. They arrived at the asylum on March 14, 1900, and were housed in a wing of the central administrative building. Overcrowding led to the construction of another wing two years later.

Further expansion of the facility began in 1905. Several more cottages were added, along with farm and service buildings. By 1917, ten cottages, an auditorium, and a new administration building formed around a semi-circle completed the facility. A tunnel system linked the complex and nearby service buildings. The design allowed room for fifty patients in each cottage and increased the capacity of the hospital to 900 patients.

By the 1930s, the majority of the population at the asylum was female. Ten cottages housed female patients, while male patients lived in the two wings of the original administration building. The influx of patients allowed the state hospital to become self-sufficient. Staff encouraged residents to work and hold jobs as part of their therapy. All the food used for meals was grown and harvested on a large farmstead staffed by patients. Women were offered training in hairstyling and sewing to care for their personal needs. Other chores assigned to patients were laundry, cooking, cleaning, and some maintenance jobs.

As the population at the Anoka hospital swelled to over 1,300 patients in the 1940s, buildings became overcrowded and hospital staff was overwhelmed. In part to address this issue, Anoka introduced new drug therapies and medical treatments that helped reduce the number of mentally ill under the state's care. The changes supported the contemporary belief that proper treatment could control or even cure mental illness. The prevailing hope was that patients could return to their families and reduce the state's responsibility for their long-term care.

Public attitudes toward the care of the state's mentally ill began changing near the end of the decade. A report published in 1948 by the Unitarian Committee on Mental Hospitals criticized conditions at the seven state asylums. It concluded that hospitals were grossly underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded.

A series of articles published in the Minneapolis Tribune corroborating the Unitarian committee findings caught the attention of Governor Luther W. Youngdahl. In response, he appointed a task force to improve conditions for the state's mentally ill patients. Their recommendations led to significant changes in the state's approach to mental health care.

To emphasize his dedication to the issue, the governor called a press conference at the Anoka State Hospital on Halloween night, 1949. In front of more than 1,000 spectators, he set fire to 671 straitjackets and restraints used on patients. Youngdahl stood next to the fire and pledged to liberate patients "from barbarous devices and the approach which these devices symbolized." He went on to dedicate the power of the state's resources to helping patients get well and return to their lives.

Between 1960 and 1970, the population at Anoka dropped from 1,085 patients to 476 with the introduction of community-based outpatient and transitional care. Anoka began offering outpatient care programs for adults and adolescents, as well as adding chemical dependency treatment programs.

The remaining patients were moved into a new, secure treatment facility in 1999. Volunteers renovated three of the empty cottages into housing for veterans in 2017, and a fourth in 2019. As of 2020, the Anoka County department of corrections continues to use the remaining buildings.

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“All of State’s Mental Units Called Unfit.” Minneapolis Tribune, April 26, 1948.

Anoka State Hospital Progress Report, October 4, 1950. Anoka, 1950. Available at the Minnesota Historical Society library as RC445.M6 A6.

Foote, Arthur, and Reese, Justin G. A Summary of Conditions in Minnesota State Hospitals for the Mentally Ill: A Report to Governor Luther W. Youngdahl / by the Minnesota Unitarian Conference Committee on Institutions for the Mentally Ill ; Arthur Foote, Chairman. Minneapolis: The Committee, 1948.

Foote, Sarah Bartlett. Finding Engla Schey. Minnesota History 64, no. 6 (Summer 2015): 248–261.
https://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/64/v64i06p248-261.pdf

Freeman, George H. Historical Development of the Minnesota Hospitals for the Care of the Insane. Minneapolis: Minnesota Mental Hygiene Society, 1941.

Hoffner, Geri. “New Mental Health Plan to Start Friday.” Minneapolis Tribune, June 26,
1949.

——— . “Restraints Removed at Anoka State Hospital.” Minneapolis Tribune, October 11,
1948.

——— . “Restraint Use Flayed.” Minneapolis Tribune, June 9, 1948.

Hurd, Henry M. The Institutional Care of the Insane in the United States and Canada. Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1916.

Murphy, Patricia. The Public Buildings of the State of Minnesota: An Architectural Heritage. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1986.

Stanchfield, Margaret. “History of the Anoka State Hospital.” Master’s thesis, University of Minnesota, November 1948.

Youngdahl, Luther W. “Statement by Governor Luther W. Youngdahl at the Burning of Restraints.” Speech, Anoka State Hospital, Anoka, MN. October 31, 1949.
https://mn.gov/mnddc/past/pdf/40s/49/49-SGL-Youngdahl.pdf

Related Images

Aerial view of Anoka State Hospital, 1937.
Aerial view of Anoka State Hospital, 1937.
Buildings of the Anoka State Hospital, ca. 1910.
Buildings of the Anoka State Hospital, ca. 1910.
Interior view of a dormitory ward at the Anoka State Hospital, ca. 1910.
Interior view of a dormitory ward at the Anoka State Hospital, ca. 1910.
Interior view of patient's dining room at the Anoka State Hospital, ca. 1910.
Interior view of patient's dining room at the Anoka State Hospital, ca. 1910.
Anoka State Hospital complex, ca. 1910.
Anoka State Hospital complex, ca. 1910.
Dancing in the auditorium of the Anoka State Hospital, ca. 1960.
Dancing in the auditorium of the Anoka State Hospital, ca. 1960.
Governor Luther Youngdahl setting fire to restraints at Anoka County Hospital, October 31, 1949. Photograph by Hi Paul. Published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on November 1, 1949, with the article, “Halloween Fire Heralds Reform—Anoka State Hospital Burns Straitjackets.” Original caption: “A flaming pile of strait jackets, manacles, and straps marked the end of the use of restraints at the Anoka State Hospital Monday night. Gov. Youngdahl, the moving force behind Minnesota’s mental health program, is sho
Governor Luther Youngdahl setting fire to restraints at Anoka County Hospital, October 31, 1949. Photograph by Hi Paul. Published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on November 1, 1949, with the article, “Halloween Fire Heralds Reform—Anoka State Hospital Burns Straitjackets.” Original caption: “A flaming pile of strait jackets, manacles, and straps marked the end of the use of restraints at the Anoka State Hospital Monday night. Gov. Youngdahl, the moving force behind Minnesota’s mental health program, is sho

Turning Point

October 31,1949: Governor Youngdahl visits Anoka State Hospital. He sets fire to straightjackets and restraints used at the hospital and pledges to improve the state’s approach to mental health care.

Chronology

1895

The Minnesota State Legislature establishes a commission to locate a site for the fourth state hospital for the insane.

1900

Anoka State Asylum for the Insane opens with the transfer of 100 men from St Peter State Hospital.

1905

Cottage #1 is completed to house female transfer patients.

1919

The hospital’s name is changed to Anoka State Asylum.

1920

An influenza outbreak claims the lives of 176 patients.

1937

The facility’s name is changed to Anoka State Hospital.

1946

Electroshock is added as a treatment option.

1949

Governor Youngdahl visits Anoka State Hospital and pledges to improve the state’s approach to mental health care.

1950

Miller Building is constructed to receive and diagnose patients before they are moved into cottages.

1955

Tranquilizers are introduced as a treatment option.

1961

Anoka becomes the first accredited state hospital in Minnesota.

1966

Farming operations cease.

1970

Chemical dependency programs begin onsite.

1999

The last patients are moved from cottages to a new facility.

2017

Two cottages are repurposed into housing for homeless veterans.