Photo: "Disregard"

Rockland Psychiatric IMG_6711-Edit.jpg

This psychiatric hospital in rural New York opened in 1931 with 60 male patients, but had sufficient beds for over 5,000. As with many early psychiatric hospitals, this one also had its own working farm, a power plant, industrial shops and bowling alley inside the Assembly Hall. 

Photo: "Spare"

Upon opening its doors in 1904, Norwich State Hospital admitted 95 patients in one single building. Within a few short years patient numbers grew dramatically, causing the hospital to expand. Norwich quickly became a self-sufficient institution, with a power plant, farm, bakery and laboratory as well as a theatre and bowling alley for recreation.