Petersburg: Central State Hospital exhibit features photographs, documents, artifacts

PETERSBURG — Do not miss the groundbreaking exhibition at the Petersburg Public Library. Through Monday, September 30, discover untold stories of progress and transformation at the historic exhibit "The Evolving History of Central State Hospital 1869-2024."

Central State Hospital's history is proudly showcased by the Friends of Virginia's Central State Hospital in collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services [DBHDS] as well as the Petersburg Public Library.

This exhibit features historical photographs, documents and artifacts that narrate the first 150 years of Central State Hospital. Visitors will also be able to view a representation of the new hospital currently under construction, three miles west of the library.

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Numerous items are displayed in the library lobby including a circa 1900s Central State Hospital patient register, an "Evolution of Central State Hospital" poster, a portrait of the members of the General Assembly ca. 1887-88 and professionally mounted portraits of Central State Hospital activities.

A 2021 architectural rendering of the new Central State Hospital, courtesy of Eric Kern AIA, hangs in the Library's rotunda. The poster titled "The New Central State Hospital 2025" states, "Throughout its 150-year history, Central State Hospital has been a significant source of recovery services, community engagement and employment to thousands of Virginians and their families." Another poster's headline states, "First mental hospital in the nation exclusively for formerly enslaved and Freedmen suffering from 'insanity, ill health and homelessness.'"

"We should not deny our past but rather learn what we must do to not repeat or be bound by its errors and omissions. The future offers that opportunity," Below Kern's architectural visualization, a quote from the Central State Hospital archives by Brandi Justice, Psy.D, Central State Hospital facility director/CEO, stated. "Over many years, individuals were admitted for a variety of socially driven causes and less for psychiatric. For decades, unproven assumptions about race resulted in overcrowding, under-resourcing and understaffing. For decades, such issues plagued most of the state asylums in the U.S."

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According to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services’ website , "The origins of Central State Hospital date back to the close of the Civil War in April 1865 when Congress created the Freedman’s Bureau to establish hospitals, schools and other facilities for the African American population.

"In December 1869, a former Confederate facility, known as Howard’s Grove Hospital, was designated as a mental health hospital for African Americans. The name was later changed to Central Lunatic Asylum. In June 1870, the General Assembly passed an act incorporating the Central Lunatic Asylum as an organized state institution. There were '123 insane persons and 100 paupers, not insane' housed at the asylum when the Commonwealth of Virginia assumed ownership.

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"In 1882, the Mayfield Farm in Dinwiddie County was purchased by the city of Petersburg for $15,000 and presented to the Commonwealth for the development of a new mental health hospital. The first patients, a total of 373, were transferred to the present site of the hospital on March 22, 1885. Ten years later, the population had doubled, and by the end of 1950, there were 4,043 inpatients with 691 on parole or escape status.

"Within a few years, the average inpatient population had reached 4,800 and overcrowding in the old, unsafe ward buildings had become a major problem."

For more information about the exhibition, visit cshvafriends1870.org or contact the Petersburg Public Library at (804) 733-2387. Petersburg Public Library is located at 201 W. Washington Street. It is open Monday - Thursday from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

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This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg: Central State Hospital exhibit features photographs, documents, artifacts