CENTRAL STATE HOSPITAL (KENTUCKY)

'Central State Hospital' is a 192-bed adult psychiatric hospital located in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky, near Louisville. In 1869, land was bought from the Hite family, from the same original grant that would become nearby Anchorage, Kentucky. Though it initially housed juvenile delinquents, it 1873 it was converted into the state's fourth lunatic asylum, and renamed 'Central Kentucky Lunatic Asylum'. By 1900 it was renamed 'Central Kentucky Asylum for the Insane'.
The secluded, rural setting was typical for such facilities in the late 19th century, as such an environment was thought to be beneficial for recovery from mental illness. However, not all patients had mental disorders, some suffered from brain damage, mental retardation or were simply poor or elderly. Though built for 1,600 patients, by 1940 there were 2,400. However, starting in the 1950s, changing community perception of the mentally disturbed, as well as the development of effective psychiatric medications, lead to fewer patients staying permanently in mental hospitals, and the average stay at the facility was two weeks by the 1990s.
In 1986 a new facility was completed on the original grounds, and the old buildings were razed. Though it flirted with privatization in the 1970s, it is publicly operated today.