Insane Asylums

This era marks the rapid proliferation of asylums to house the mentally ill. Like the prison, house of refuge, and orphanage, the asylum is another grand institution that is firmly believed to reform or cure those entrusted to its care. This approach to dealing with the mad is novel, but not born of need. There is neither an increasing fear of people with mental illness nor a rash of madness at the time.

Number one building, at the State Penitentiary in Canon City, Colorado. It was wsed for insane, tuberculosis and hospital wards. Ca.1907