Blaze Destroys State Hospital Farm Barns, 1931

The following is an article from the Oregon Statesman published May 31, 1931.

Blaze Destroys Two State Hospital Farm Barns, Loss $40,000

Excited Inmate Dashes Into Inferno, Saved With Shirt Burned

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Believed Incendiary; Cattle all Saved, Two by Force

Fire thought to be incendiary totally destroyed two large barns at the state hospital farm, four and one half miles east of here, at 9:15 o’clock last night.  The loss on the structures and the contents is estimated at $40,000.

More than 100 head of cattle had been turned out only a few hours before the flames started.  None of these were lost although two bulls, at large after keepers had loosed them, started back into the flames but were repelled by their keepers.

Man Rushes Back, Shirt Burned Off

No inmates of the hospital farm were in the barns when the flames were seen but one man, apparently deranged by the fire, started back into the blaze.  Keepers rescued him but not until his shirt was burned.  It was necessary to handcuff him to keep him away from the fire.

Attendants at the state hospital farm did not discover the flames until they had started to lick their way through the roof of the large barn.  The headway the fire had gained inclined them to the theory that some inmate had started the blaze.  A few years ago a state hospital inmate started another fire.

Bakery Report, 1926

This report was published in the 22nd Biennial Report of the Oregon State Hospital to the Oregon State Board of Control for the years 1924-1926.

Ovens at OSIA, Oregon State Archives Photo

Bakery

This department is operated by one employe [sic] and eight patients;  its function is to supply the entire institution with bread, pastry, etc.  During the biennium it has required approximately 4,900 barrels of flour to do this.  The requirements of the institution for two years are approximately 620,000 loaves of bread, 418,000 biscuits, 12,480 pies, 4,200 12×24-inch pans of ginger bread, 78,000 cookies, 73,000 doughnuts and 2,100 loaf cakes.

P.A.N. Program, 1961

The following is a transcription from the July/August 1961 edition of The Lamplighter, a monthly magazine published by the patients of the Oregon State Hospital.  The article addresses the the Patients as Nurses or P.A.N. program.

PAN

This three-letter title is highly meaningful at O.S.H.  It is an appropriate title of an important phase of our Industrial Therapy.

P.A.N. is less than two years young.  It had its inception in January 1960.

Enroll for the class yourself and find out just what it means.

You can really become a needed, if not indispensable, person during your stay as a patient at O.S.H.

The red and white P.A.N. on the gray uniforms signifies that a man or woman has successfully completed a four weeks’ course in care of sick patients.

Patients able and willing to assist aides and nurses may now have the privilege of getting all the “know-how.”

You can equip yourself with new skills and techniques.  You can learn how to best give of your time and services.  At the completion of your course, you find yourself able to skillfully give a three-minute back rub; you can lift without hurting your back; and you can give tender, loving care (T.L.C.) to folks whose afflictions make your own small problems so tiny that you can see them only with the aid of a microscope.

Open House at OSH this Friday, March 2, 2012

What: Public open house and tour of Oregon State Hospital’s newly completed patient wing.
When: Friday, March 2, 2012, 1 to 6:30 p.m.
Where: Oregon State Hospital, 2600 Center Street NE, Salem

For more information contact Rebeka Gipson-King, 503-756-0366, or read Press Release here.

Join a public tour of the Bridges and Springs facilities at the Oregon State Hospital this coming Friday.  There will be a small display set up by the Oregon State Hospital Museum and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions.

Charges Against State Mental Hospital, 1949

The following is a transcription of an editorial published in The Oregon Daily Journal, on Thursday, October 6, 1949.

The Citizens Action committee and the Central Club council of Portland and local representatives of the American Equity association have made some sensational charges of brutality and neglect in Oregon state hospital for the mentally ill.

They told the state board of control Tuesday that they have information indicating that several “murders” had been committed in recent years, that patients were kicked and beaten and that patients were forced to work in violation of the 13th amendment.

Then and Now: Fountain

Today the historic fountain was reinstalled at the Oregon State Hospital.  The fountain is returning to its original location, after having been removed when the administration building (Siskyou Hall) was constructed.  Take a look at the today’s image and what the grounds used to look like in 1913 below:

Colony Farm History

The following is an article written by Amy Vandegrift, development director at the Willamette Heritage Center in Salem, Oregon for the Statesman Journal appearing Sunday, February 4, 2012.  It describes the Colony Farm, a property in West Salem owned and maintained by the Oregon State Hospital.

For much of its history, the Oregon State Hospital had a farm and garden department that met almost all the needs of the institution’s patients and staff.

The operations used staff and patient labor in the running of its dairy, hog and poultry operations and the garden truck for crops and hay produce. As reported by Don Upjohn, journalist for Capital Journal, Dec. 18, 1934, “The farm and garden department produced hundreds of thousands of pounds of vegetables and fruits. … As nearly as possible, the institution is made self-sustaining. One feature is rich garden lands in the river bottoms of Polk County.”

In addition to the hospital grounds and nearby Cottage Farm, the hospital also operated a farm in West Salem known as Colony Farm. These 403 acres of bottom land along the Willamette River were located off of Oregon Highway 22 on State Farm Road. In addition to acres of apple, cherry, walnut and filbert orchards, vegetable gardens and berry fields, the farm had a two-story barracks for hospital patients and staff, a kitchen/mess hall that included a large wood-burning stove, barn for the draft horses, shed for farm equipment, pump house, windmill and a house for the full time foreman and his family.