The Haunting History of Trenton Psychiatric Hospital

Trenton Psychiatric Hospital was founded in 1848 as the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum by Dorothea Lynde Dix. Dix was a proponent of creating a series of state-run hospitals to care for patients with mental illnesses, and Trenton was her favorite – she lived in a cottage there in the final years of her life and referred to it as her “firstborn child. Trenton Psychiatric Hospital was also the first asylum built on the Kirkbride Plan, named for psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride, who proposed a design that featured wards that sprawled off from a central administration section to maximize sunlight, fresh air, and exposure to natural beauty.

Unfortunately, as was the case with many asylums, overcrowding, understaffing, and underfunding became huge issues that led to nightmarish conditions for residents. Dr. Henry Cotton was appointed medical director in 1907, and at first it seemed like his approach, which treated mental illness as a medical condition to be treated, would revolutionize the field. However, he erroneously believed that mental illnesses were caused by localized infections, and performed hundreds of operations removing teeth and internal organs of patients in an effort to remove what he believed the source of the infection to be, resulting in mutilation and death. While he was ousted from his position in 1930, teeth were still removed from residents into the 1960s.

The hospital was renamed the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton in 1893, and later Trenton Psychiatric Hospital in 1971. It continues to operate today as a 400-bed inpatient facility, though many wards are abandoned. The administration façade has been modernized but the wings and outbuildings still remain. The grounds are closed to the public, and the portion that is visible through the fence remains an ominous and foreboding reminder of the difficulty we still face in finding ways to treat individuals suffering from mental illness with dignity and compassion.