Re-Post: History of Psychology: Fergus Falls-If the Walls Could Talk
In Summer of 2023, we’re re-posting some of the most popular blogs from the site. Enjoy reviewing this content! This article on the history of the Fergus Falls asylum in northern Minnesota was originally published in May of 2022.
In Dr. Andi Lassiter’s History and Systems of Psychology course, students complete a project on the local history of psychology. The goal of the assignment is to research some aspect of psychology in the upper Midwest, such as local asylums or people / events related to psychology. Students also need to creatively tell others about their findings, and can choose to write a blog post for this site as a way to communicate their findings. For more information on this assignment, just use the contact form on this website to get in touch and we can share more details.
By Gensyn Bosquez
Have you ever wondered how an insane asylum for the mentally impaired worked in the 1890’s? Well, if your answer is yes, boy do I have a story for you. Fergus Falls, a treatment center for the insane, was one of the largest within the state of Minnesota and was the third center that was opened within the state. It was built and designed by a model created by a man named Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride who believed in humane treatment for those with mental illness and was the first to adopt a therapeutic approach to mental impairment within Minnesota. Homeopathic treatment methods don’t always help those with mental illness as many seem to reject various forms of treatment due to the advancement of the disease since some might not be able to comprehend what is going on, but they did their best to contain their patients.
The Fergus Falls facility opened its doors in the 1890s and within the first few days of it being open, it had received over 100 patients as the other state mental health institutions in St. Peter and Rochester were overcrowded. Three years after opening, women were admitted into this asylum and 27 years later, their population grew to be around 1,700, making it to be the largest mental hospital in the state of Minnesota. Unfortunately, like the others, it became very overcrowded, very fast.
Those who resided within the walls of this mental hospital for the insane were casted out from society but within this institution. Though family didn’t want to have to deal with the upkeep of their father/mother or aunt/uncle, the residents still felt as if they were at home since they found it to be rather comforting to be around people that were almost one in the same. We can blame the media for the distorted views of mental health treatment facilities. Even though the term “insane” is no longer used to label those with mental illness, the history of treatment facilities, which often included inhumane treatment of patients, has held as being formidable and negative places.
At this point, I’m sure you are asking yourself, “What type of patients were housed at the facility?” Many people that were admitted were overworked, diagnosed with epilepsy, lonely, frightened, and had typhoid fever. Many might have been confused about why being overworked or having epilepsy landed them in the hospital. To be honest, I too am confused. The only possible explanation I can think of is that they didn’t know how to treat exhaustion or have the proper knowledge to help sustain one’s quality of life with epilepsy. As listed above, we see that there were several different reasons why people were admitted, but fortunately, the institution included 22 different wards. Some wards were units for psychopaths, contagious diseases (i.e. typhoid fever), and a unit for those recovering from illness (convalescents).
In my research I found that the treatment at the hospital was mixed. In one case, a man escaped the facility with the purpose of injuring his wife but instead killed a women renting the farm he once lived on. From this occurrence, occupational programs were implemented to teach patients ways to cope with their condition(s) and turned heads of members within the city of Fergus Falls towards a more positive viewpoint when it came to the security and safety of their daily life. Women in an occupational program at the hospital often learned how to knit; whereas, many of the men admitted were farmers and had the opportunity to tend the on-site farm that stretched nearly 500 acres. Don’t get me wrong, things definitely could have turned bad within some of these situations such as men escaping and women using knitting supplies to injure others, but all of this was taken into account and partaking in these programs was based on severity on their illness.
The Fergus Falls treatment facility was not without its problems; however, it was on the cusp of something new. It was committed to using more humane and varied treatments and was the first of its kind in Minnesota. It was also on the forefront of various treatment methods such as electric shock therapy and occupational medicine. Fortunately for us in today’s society, institutions for mental illness are under much more protection for both the patients and public. They have benefited from scientific advancement in care and treatment. Additionally, mental illness is beginning to be more normalized. It is more often that patients are treated with care and respect This is due to how much more comfortable we can make the patients while being cared and treated within the treatment facilities though the neglect within them can and likely still occurs. Treatment for those with mental illness has changed though much of the stigma and misunderstanding of mental illness remains. Find out more about the rise and fall of facilities like this one here. If the walls of Fergus Falls insane asylum could talk, what do you think they would say?
References
Fergus Falls Regional Treatment Center - Wikipedia. WordDisk. (n.d.). https://worddisk.com/wiki/Fergus_Falls_Regional_Treatment_Center/ .
The Minnesota-Nice Mill of Red River Milling « Guerilla Historian on September 30, The Minnesota-Nice Mill of Red River Milling « Guerilla Historian, 15, K. D. on M., Daywalker, K., Project Kirkbride: Mission Complete « SUBSTREET.org on May 21, Project Kirkbride: Mission Complete « SUBSTREET.org, 22, anne on A., Anne, 31, M. on A., Michelle, 22, N. E. on O., E., N., 3, H. games freak on D., freak, H. games, 7, S. on J., Susan, 13, G. on J., Gary, 12, kelsey wade on J., … Bergren, K. (2017, July 18). Fergus Falls State Hospital: History & Photographs. SUBSTREET. https://substreet.org/fergus-falls-state-hospital/ .
U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). Fergus Falls State Hospital (U.S. National Park Service). National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/places/fergus-falls-state-hospital.htm .