Boston Psychopathic Hospital

The Boston Psychopathic Hospital, the first mental health hospital (as opposed to an asylum) in Massachusetts, was constructed from 1910 to 1912 as the Psychopathic Ward of Boston State Hospital. It had a 110 bed inpatient unit and outpatient care that included a speech clinic that primarily treated patients who stuttered. A history of the hospital reports that of the clerks and attendants employed in 1916, most had attended grammar school with “only 28 percent having advanced to the high school”. However, the hospital was otherwise responsible for quite a few educational and research programs, attracting many Harvard students, as it was only a five minute walk from their campus.

In 1920 it was separated from Boston State Hospital and officially named the Boston Psychopathic Hospital. It was known for an approach centered on treatment rather than custodial care. In the late 1960s the name was changed to the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. It was closed in 2003 and demolished in 2011.