Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-05-13
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Hpuibsidi', fissane Gssium Hopes
Gone GIimmering-The Governor
Declines 90 Accept Her site-Report
of the Experts.


not very fan wrong, when l. intimated that
the West Tennessee Insane Asylum would
not be located at Humboldt:
EXECUTIVE OFFICE, NASHVILLE, Tenn,
May II, 1S74--Messrs. Geo. w. Day. John
A. Gardner And Or. w. Z. H0gefs, Diree-
tors. West Tennessee Insane Asylum. GEN
tlemen:, ] haye, carefully considered the
report made ~ 2 Mai,cr,ty o, your Board,
ana together with Drs. Calender, Cheat
ham and Jones, inspected, the site near
Humboldt, upon which you propose ia
erect the West TenI.essee insane Asylum.
Looking alone to the language and spirit of
the act providing for the erection Of this
Institution, and which is my only guide in
the discharge of this delicate and resporsi.
bic duty, feel constrained To withhold
ny approval of your selection. In doing
so, however, no direct or implied censure
of the Board is intended, for my confidence
in the gentlemen composing 1t Is undi'nin-
ished. Ard ] hope You may find it con-
sistent with your sense of duty to the
State, as well as to that helpless and depen-
dent class for whom this charity wa. in
tended; 10 sfl5ct another site for the cree
tion ofthe Hospital.
As you are already aware, l invited to my
assistance in the discharge of my duty, the
only three surviving Superinte ndents OF the
Tennessee Hospital for the Insane who
have most cheerftliy eo-cpcfased With HE
TIFF report Is herewith appended, as a
part of this communication, from which the
reasons for this action will more fully APP
pear. Yours, very truly,
JNo. e. BROWN, Governor.
To his Excellency, John c. Brown, Governor
of Tennessee.
NASHVILLE, May Z, 1s74.-Sir; At your
request the undersigned accompanied you
on the 9Th inst. to the town Of Humboldt,
Gibson county, for ths purpose OF inspect
ing the Site for The West Tennessee Hos
pital for the Insane, chosen and reported to
you BIZ the Directors appointed under the
act Of the Assembly of 1873 (Chapter
XLVI), and herewith submit their report.
In describing the site. the act above cited
requires that 1t shall be q, fIrui or tact OF
land OF ,Det less than tlirse hundred acres;
the said farm or tract of land shall be good
tillable land, with bountiful supply Of
free running water, and large facilities for
drainage from the hospital site.
In communication addressed to you, at
your request, October IS, 1878, by two OF
the undersigned; an connection with DR.. L.
A. Atchisdn: President o. the Bard Of
TSustees of Tennessee Hospital for the In
sane, and which you designed to use as a
paper of instructions to the Board of Di-
rectors about to be appointed, the following
language was used: "The precise points set
forth in the act, touching the sites for the
said hospital. should be carefully and sedu-
lousy locked 10, These are salubritf and
healthflinsss OF the region-remoteness
from marsh, malarial influences arising
from river and creek swamps, sluggish
streams, and stagnant waters of any kind,
an elevation sufficient to obtain pure at
mosphere and secure thorough natural ven
tilation OF the buildings, an abundant sup
ply of pure running water on the site Sc
lected, near to and of easy delivery TO the
buildings, say not less than seventy-five or
one hundred thousand gallons in every
twenty-four hours, land Of the requisite
quantity as prescribed in the act, and of
good tillable quality,a particular site on the
land purchased, of not less than twenty
five or thirty acres in extent, for the lOca-
ton Of the hospital and its appurtenant
buildings, which shall have certain and
complete down drainage. The location
should not be less than three or four miles
from some city or town, and should be az
cesSible BY a railroad, not more than mile
distant at farthest. aPd other things being
equal. should be central to the population
designed to be served. All of these charac-
teristics OF the site to be selected are i'm
portant, but healthfulness of the region,
abundance of water, adaptability for drain
age and accessibility, are paramount con-
siderations.n
The Board of Directors, with their Off
Gers, were promptly on hand, and by their
admirable arrangements and courteous at
tention, and also the ciyility Of number
of the leading citizens OF Humboldt and the
vicinity, we were enabled to make salts
factory observation and inspection of the
premises in all the essential particulars.
The inspection ard information ELECTED,
developed the following facts:
l. The town of Humboldt is geograph-
ically central to the population to be served
by the contemplated hospital.
,. 1t is readily accessible by railroads.
5. The land on the farm presented Is
tillable and fertile.
4. The building site or sites, are about
three-fourths of mile or a mile distant
from the town, and the crossing of the
Memphis and Ohio, and Mobile and Ohio
Railroads.
5. The more eligible building site of the
two offered, is too small in area for the main
hospital structure and its necessary adjunct
buildings. The other site is almost totally
deficient, except for about two hundred
yards, in the requisite facilities for drainage.
Neither of the building sites fulfill the let
ter, or the spirit Of the law, in this most
important respect.
6. The farm is, in no considerable pOr-
ton of it, ever subject to inundation from
high water, but much OF the territory imme-
diately contiguous is subject TO overflow.
I. A perpetual stream flows through the
farm, emptying into the Forked Deer river.
Except in wet seasons, however, it is slug
gish. The only spring or springs of pure
running water discovered are on the margin
of this low stream, which, at any
points accessible for use, are liable
to overflow in rainy seasons. They
are totally inadequate in any
season, and would, under any probable cir
fail to furnish 'the bountiful
supply of free (pure) running" water de-
manded by the law and the absolute neces-
stiles of the institution proposed to be
erected. Wells are readily sunk in the soil
formation. which is an alluvial loan under
laid with clay and gravel, and yield at a
depth of from forty to fifty feet, more or
less, supplies of the water (freestone) pc
culiar to that formation, but experience has
amply demonstrated that such sources of
supply cannot be permanently relied upon
for large hospitals, and much trouble and
cost have resulted from the attempt to do
so.
s. Unless the main sewage were directed
into the stream spoken of, it would require
great expense and labor TO effect sufficient
system of drainage, and under any outlay
almost il would be doubtful. To divert
the drainage into the stream would de-
stroy or greatly endanger the purity of the
springs.
o. The region is as healthful and salu-
brious as such districts of country as the
great body Of the territory lying between
two such rivers as the Mississippi and Ten
nessee, and amply watered by small triba
taries, are usually found to be, but in close
proximity TO one of the latter, malaria to
greater or less extent is inevitable. Alarge
hospital population collected and main
tanned at such point, would be endangered
by the ordinary miasmatic diseases, and
the generation OF their cognati sequlfe the
various forms of intestinal disorder.
Without alluding TO minor objections,
which in the selection of a site for struc
ture of this character, intended to be per-
manent, are worthy of more or less consid-
g. IL anti no