Bartonville State Hospital, also known as Peoria State Hospital or Illinois Hospital for the Incurable Insane was originally built in 1897 but the original building was never occupied because of structural problems. It had been built on top of old mine shafts that had collapsed, so the building was torn down and Dr. George Zeller, a pioneer in the mental health field at the time, oversaw the rebuilding of the new hospital. The new hospital was reopened in 1902; it was built using a cottage system and there were 33 separate buildings which housed patients. There were also a store, a power house, a nurse building, a laundry, a bakery, a kitchen and even a power house on the hospital grounds. The most revolutionary feature of the hospital was it’s lack of window restraints or bars. Not using these was unheard of at the time.
Bartonville, IL Illinois, USA