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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Not to be confused with Metropolitan State Hospital (California).
Metropolitan State Hospital
Geography Location Waltham Massachusetts, United States
Organization Type Specialist Services Speciality Psychiatric hospital
History Opened 1927 - Closed 1992
Location Off Trapelo Rd., Belmont, Lexington, and Waltham, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°24′20″N 71°12′49″W
Area 330 acres (130 ha)
Built 1927
Architect Gordon C. Robb
Architectural style Colonial Revival
MPS Massachusetts State Hospitals and State Schools MPS
NRHP reference No. 93001482
Added to NRHP January 21, 1994
The Metropolitan State Hospital was a public hospital for the mentally ill, on grounds that extended across parts of Waltham, Lexington, and Belmont in Massachusetts, US. Founded in 1927, it was at one time the largest and most modern facility of its type in Massachusetts. It was closed in January 1992 as a result of the state's cost-cutting policy of closing its mental hospitals and moving patients into private and community-based settings. The main complex of buildings has subsequently been redeveloped into apartments. The hospital campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1994. The property also housed the Gaebler Children's Center for mentally ill youth.
History
The Metropolitan State Hospital's founding originated in legislation passed by the state in 1900, mandating that the state take over care for the mentally ill, which had in some cases only been handled at the local level. Site selection for a facility in the Greater Boston area, where the demand for additional space was the greatest, took until 1926. Ground was broken on the hospital buildings in 1926, and the facility was formally dedicated in 1928, and opened on October 29, 1930. Construction continued until 1935, with some stages under Works Progress Administration supervision. The complex cost $1.8 million and was considered the most modern mental health facility in the country.
The hospital's design was reflective of the third stage of development of facilities for the mentally ill, after the Kirkbride Plan and the cottage/colony system. It also reflected the advent of roads rather than railroads as major transport arteries, as it was not located near any railroad lines. Its buildings were designed in the Colonial Revival style by Gordon Robb, with landscaping, based on principles laid down by the Olmsted Brothers, by R. Hayward Loring. At its peak, the facility had a patient population of nearly 2,000. The grounds included the Met-Fern cemetery, a burial site it shared with the Fernald School.
In 1978, Metropolitan State patient Anne Marie Davee was murdered by another patient, Melvin W. Wilson.
The facility was closed in 1992 during a deinstitutionalization movement when most state
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