Dorothea Dix

Dorothea Dix Hospital (originally the "Insane Hospital of North Carolina") is a facility for the mentally-ill that was founded in 1851 (the first patient was omitted five years later) by Dorothea Dix, a former teacher who experienced bouts of depression herself and experienced copious health problems. After a particularly enlightening trip to England, she began to teach at a Boston-based prison to an all-female class of inmates. After seeing the wretched conditions in which they lived, particularly those with mental illness, she became a strong advocate for the humane treatment of the mentally ill. She campaigned for the creation of such a facility in North Carolina because it was one of two of the original thirteen states that did not have a hospital for the mentally ill (Delaware was the other). During the Civil War, Dix served as the Superintendent of Nurses for the Union Army. She died on July 17, 1887.

During the era in which State's Mates volunteered at Dorothea Dix, there were approximately 2,200 patients present at the facility. The hospital was desegregated in the sixties as a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and included patients from twenty-two counties in the Piedmont area of North Carolina.

State's Mates first documented experience with Dorothea Dix Hospital was at Christmas of 1960, when the group donated items to the institution. During the 1969-1970 academic year, State's Mates selected Dorothea Dix as their annual project; this entailed visits “twice a month, and then later, once a month; we would try to brighten up their lives by spending a few hours with them and serving them refreshments.”  Although the institution was frequently suggested in committee reports as a place to volunteer, these are the only two documented cases in which State's Mates worked with the hospital.

Visit the Dorothea Dix Hospital website for more information on the history of the institution or present day information.

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