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Somerville and New England History Collection
 
The image at left is an engraving of McLean Hospital as it appeared
in 1840, when it was still located in what is now Somerville.
McLean (or, as it was originally called, "the Charlestown
Asylum") was founded in 1817, seven years after a pair
of Boston physicians had circulated a petition declaring the
city's need for a "hospital for the reception of lunatics
and other sick persons." The hospital's founders purchased
the estate of Joseph Barrell, a once wealthy Charlestown resident
who was deeply in debt. Barrell's estate, with its elaborate
gardens and mansion designed by famed architect Charles Bulfinch,
was believed by many to be the most beautiful in New England.
The selection of the estate to house the asylum indicated the
founders' embrace of the recent revolution in treating mental
illness. Previously the mentally ill had been chained and beaten,
as it was believed that patients could be frightened out of
their madness. Beginning in the 1790s, doctors began to experiment
with the notion that beautiful surroundings and relaxation could
alleviate the sufferings of the mentally ill. This school of
treatment made asylums a better environment not only for patients,
but also for staff. An early apothecary at the asylum, George
Folsom, wrote in his diary shortly after taking up his post,
"Crazy people much more pleasant than I expected."
The hospital remained in Charlestown (and later Somerville)
throughout most of the nineteenth century. The trustees moved
the hospital to Belmont in 1891.
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