Peoria State Hospital
Location Information
Date: 17 August 2024 Type: Museum/Cemetery
Location Title: Peoria State Hospital
City/State: Bartonville, Illinois
Investigation Times: 7:00 PM - 12:00 AM Status: Analysis
Weather Information
Sunrise: 6:12 AM Sunset: 7:55 PM
High Temperature: 80°F Low Temperature: 68°F
Sky Condition: Overcast Wind: WNW at 9 mph
Humidity: 90% Precipitation: 0.64 in
Lunar Phase: Waxing Gibbous % disk visible: 95%
Solar X-Rays: Normal Geomagnetic Field: Quiet
Pressure: 29.19 mmHg
Investigators Present
Becky Ray
Sarah Crowe
Jennifer Sprague
Christina Quentin
Edward Quentin
Greg Payne
PHOTOS
VIDEO
AUDIO
Location History
From https://www.peoriastatehospital.com/
ABOUT:
From the very beginning, the Peoria State Hospital was built to be an institution unlike anything else of its kind. Opened in 1902, the Peoria State Hospital was initiated by the work of the Peoria Women’s League, who had seen the types of “treatments” that were being used to treat the mentally ill at the time. They knew there had to be a better way to house and help these people. From the very beginning, they knew they wanted Dr. George Zeller, a local surgeon, to be not only the superintendent but the father of this institution.
Opened under the name “Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane,” Dr. Zeller petitioned to have the name changed to "Illinois General Hospital" and later changed to “Peoria State Hospital” as he did not believe anyone to be “incurable.” Dr. Zeller wanted to run a new kind of institution that treated people with mental illnesses humanely. He took all of the bars off the doors and windows, removed all types of restraints, and instituted new, holistic types of therapies. Dr. Zeller was considered mad for refusing to lock his patients up or tie them to beds, but his open-door policy meant his patients were treated with human kindness and empathy.
Regularly inspected by medical boards, Peoria State Hospital was considered #1 in its treatments of some illnesses and its curative abilities for others. The Hospital also boasted the #1 nursing program in the country for 34 of its 36 years of operation. Even after Dr. Zeller’s death in 1938, the Hospital continued to run, following his vision of non-imprisonment, non-restraint, non-sedation, and an 8-hour workday.
The Hospital finally closed its doors for good in 1973. Its closure was due to a combination of lack of funding and staffing. Despite the constant employees' pleas for funding and the ability to hire more employees, the state government was already on a crusade to close these lifelong-type facilities. At this point, the Hospital included an astounding 63 buildings. Unfortunately, a “taboo” existed about these buildings, and most were demolished. Now, only 13 of the 63 remain.
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Investigators Notes:
​Becky, lead investigator:
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