The Westborough State Hospital opens and provides holistic care to patients with psychiatric and mental illness.
Located in the former site of the State Reform school, the State Hospital (known as the Westborough Insane Asylum until 1907) is a pioneer in the treatment of people with mental illness. Staff encourage group meals and socialization between patients and employees. As the second homeopathic hospital in the nation, doctors use natural therapies, like fresh air, nutritious foods, and hydrotherapy, and avoid physical restraint and synthetic medications. Staff develop one of the first examples of transitional care, teaching patients to live on their own so they can eventually return home. A laboratory is located on site to study causes of mental illness and the facility offers cutting-edge tuberculosis treatment for patients and community members.
African American psychiatrist Solomon Carter Fuller completes an internship here in the late 1890s and later becomes head of pathology. His experience here informs his groundbreaking work researching Alzheimer's disease.
In the 1980s the hospital becomes the only one in the state with a Deaf unit. It is one of the last in the state to close in 2010 as part of the movement for community-based treatment.
