Clarks Summit State Hospital history

In 1844, she arrived in Pennsylvania, where Kirkbride became her ally.

Her memorial to the state legisla­ture prompted the 1845 autho­rization of the founding of the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital, still in operation as Harrisburg State Hospital.

Jn 1855, he made addi­tions to New Jersey Lunatic Asylum.

Clarks Summit State Hospital began as a farm for impoverished individuals developed by Providence Township in 1862.

In 1869, Pennsylvania’s legislature established the Board of Public Charities to inspect all voluntary charity agencies in the Common­wealth.

He created several important government buildings, banks, religious buildings and houses, and in 1874 was offered the post of supervising architect of the Treasury Department, which he declined.

In 1875, Doctor Pliny Earle revealed a series of such inci­dents occurring in the nation’s mental institutions.

By 1890 it housed nearly eight hundred residents.

In 1913, the previously powerless board was authorized to recommend changes following its inspec­tions, and to apply to the district attorney for legal action if those alterations were not made within ninety days.

By the mid 1950's, the hospital was serving approximately 1,450 patients.

In 1963, Congress passed the Community Mental Health Facilities Act, stressing local mental health services.

A 1978 amendment of that law permitted the non­-dangerous mentally ill to be committed to outpatient programs.