The Indiana legislature authorized the establishment of a "hospital for the insane" as early as 1827, but actual construction of a facility was delayed for several years. The Indiana Hospital for the Insane finally opened in November 1848 with a total of five patients. At that time, the hospital consisted of one brick building situated on a large parcel of land of over on Washington Street, west of downtown Indianapolis. In 1889 the hospital was renamed the Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane. After 1926 it was known as Central State Hospital, and by 1928, physicians cared for nearly 3,000 patients. From 1848 to 1948, the hospital grew yearly until it encompassed two massive ornate buildings ; a pathological department; a "sick" hospital for the treatment of physical ailments; a farm colony where patients engaged in "occupational therapy"; a chapel; an amusement hall complete with an auditorium, billiards, and bowling alleys; a bakery; a fire house; a cannery manned by patients; and idyllic gardens and fountains. The more ornate of the two massive buildings came to be known as "the Seven Steeples". This building, which housed female patients, was designed using the Kirkbride Plan for mental healthcare facilities. For a half-century, this complex buildings and gardens housed mentally ill patients from all regions of Indiana. By 1905, however, the state had built mental health institutions in Evansville, Logansport, Madison, and Richmond, thereby relieving an overcrowded Central State Hospital of some of its patient load and leaving it to treat only those from the "central district", an area of 38 counties situated in the middle portion of the state. In 1950 patient population reached 2,500 By the early 1970s, most of the hospital's ostentatious Victorian-era buildings had been declared unsound and razed. The Men's Department Building had been demolished already in 1941. In their place, the state constructed brick buildings of a nondescript, institutional genre. These modern buildings and the medical staff therein continued to serve the state's mentally ill until allegations of patient abuse and funding troubles sparked an effort to forge new alternatives to institutionalization which, in turn, led to the hospital's closure in 1994.
Current status
The grounds of Central State Hospital were still largely vacant as of 2011. In place of the demolished Women's Ward is a large lawn. There are approximately 10 buildings on the grounds that were associated with the hospital. The Pathology Department building, built in 1895, is well preserved and houses the Indiana Medical History Museum. The three more modern wards were built in 1974 when the others were demolished. The oldest building on the property is the old power house, built in 1886. The Administration building, which was built in 1938, is now most commonly associated with the hospital, although it never housed patients. In 2005, the Beckmann Theatre was granted temporary occupancy of the 1895 Laundry Building where it staged its production of "Asylum". More recently, the building has been used for storing cars. The Indiana State Archives, the Indiana State Library, and the Indiana Medical History Museum, are preserving the history of an institution that served the mentally ill of Indiana for 146 years. In March 2003, the city of Indianapolis purchased the property from the state for $400,000. The land that was acquired consists of located on the city's westside at the 2800-3300 blocks of West Washington Street. The site is also the subject of the 2006 filmCentral State: Asylum for the Insane, a documentary, produced and directed by independent filmmaker Dan T. Hall of Vizmo Films. In late 2013, several buildings, including the former Administrative Building as well as the prominent Powerhouse, were purchased by a company known for refurbishing buildings otherwise left to waste. The project to turn the administrative building into student apartments began in January 2014, with students expected to move in by August 2014 for the fall semester. Several students were able to move in, but construction still continues in September 2014. The building is now named Central State Mansion and withholds original features of the architecture as well as decorations suggestive of its history.
