Amador ledger., 1906-11-09
AGNEW ASYLUM.
Its Past, Its Present and its Future.
By Arthur j. Pillsbury.

Within decade after the openip.
OF Napa State Hospital it had becom,
so overcrowded that the establishment
OF another state hospital became
Imperative, and Agnew, seven miles
north of San Jose, was selected as the
site. The intention was to make
Agnew the permanent home of the
chronic insane, but Californians are a
hopeful people and would not, know
lngly, maintain any institution into
whose doors hope was forbidden to
enter. Therefore Agnew straightway
became merely third hospital as
like as. possible to the other two
already In commission. Its doors
were opened October 30, 1888.
The Plant As 1t Was.
The main buildings at Angew we're
neither better nor worse than those
at Napa and Stockton, save that the
wards may have been a trifie more
sunny, and the facade not as ornate
as at Napa. All of the mistakes of
the older institutions we're copied
with slavish repetition, including the
great central tower and the turreted
tanks high above the upper floors,
menace to the safety of the Institu-
ton and its inmates. The construc
ton was more fiimsy and less honest
than at either Napa or Stockton, and
the day of reckoning was terrible
when it came. But the building was
snowy from railroad and hlghroad
and so the paramount object in view
was attained,
A Better Scheme Started.
Agnew had, in Its supplemental
building, set better example for
the state. There had, prior to the
been built two one-story
cottages. and two two-story cottages,
primarily for the accommodation of
paying patients of the more tractabIe
class, and secondarily, as far as there
was room, for acute and convalescent
insane. Had the institution been
spared the present year would have
seen it reinforced by the addition of
serviceable interchangeable depart
ment for the better treatment Of acute
cases. In fact, Agnew was beginning
to set the pace for the other state in
stitutions. Its management had be-
come alert. and plethorio contingent
fund derived from paying patients
was furnishing the means for moder
nizing the institution.
Location and Cost.
The location was not fortunate.
About the only really poor piece of
land In the vicinity was selected. 1t
is damp in winter, the soil is cold
and somewhat alkaline, it is adobe
and hard to work, and there is not
enough land even such as it is. That
is, there is not enough land to main
tain enough of dairy herd to supply
the patients with as much milk as
they ought to have, and leave enough
other land to be cultivated in annual
crops to keep large working force
OF patients profitably employed.
Without work there is slim chance of
healing hurt minds. There are 331
acres in the tract, and its original
cost was s62, 1os. The institution
needs as much more,
The main buildings cost 1908, 696.
The four cottages cost SS8, 500. 10;
furnishing the buildings, 40, 4s9. O3;
machinery department (lighting,
heating, power, etc., STA, 1913. 70;
water plant (including artesian
wells, reservoirs, tanks, tower, etc. },
SGT, 318.S3; accessory buildings, 50,
1920; sewer system, SIS, 900; i'm
provement of grounds, S9,71S. |
have not been able to make a complete
inventory of the value OF state pro-
perty at Agnew as it stood at 5
O'Clock a. M, April Is, 1906. The
figures total 1888, 105.64. The pro-
perty had probably cost, in cash out
lay and labor, upwards of a million
dollars.
Then Came the Earthquake.
BY twenty minutes after five
O'Clock on that memorable morning
the States assests at Agnew we're pro-
badly less than s15O,OOO. The land
and the landscape gardening were
lett; SO were the water plant and the
sewer, the engines and boilers. but
there was scarcely one brick upon
another that could count for any
thing where it lay except as second
hand brick. The best architects.
engineers and builders in the state
have condemned the plant utterly,
and there was not one building on
the grounds in which any officer or
patient could be housed the next
night. 1t may be doubted if any
responsible contractor would have
to clear the ground for
all the salvage. The architecture was
bad, the workmanship worse the
materials below standard.
But the destruction of property was
the least OF it. Of the 1918 patients
IN the institution that morning, 1O1
we're killed outright and more than as
many more were injured. There were
also eleven officers and attendants
killed and as many more injured