RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES: 5 Things Worth Knowing About the State Hospital's Bull Street Campus

If you live in Columbia you’ve probably been seeing a lot of stories over the past few years on the SC Dept. of Mental Heath’s Bull St. property. There are a lot of arguments going back and forth about how to use the land, what buildings are worth saving, where the Confederate treasure is buried (just kidding!), etc. Anyway, I thought it might be nice to explore the background of the historic site in handy list form.




Mills Building completed c. 1828

1. Public Funding
 
  The “South Carolina Lunatic Asylum” (I know that title isn’t PC but that’s what they originally called it) was one of the first publicly funded institutions for the treatment of the mentally ill in the United States. Hard to imagine South Carolina being so progressive, but thanks to the efforts of two state senators the legislature designated $30,000 to build the Asylum in 1821. The new State Hospital  was intended to be a place for mentally ill South Carolinians to receive treatment, instead of simply being locked away for the rest of their lives. The hospital quickly became a tourist attraction for visitors to Columbia and it remains an important landmark in the city today.





Robert Mills' original plans for the Asylum.

2. Mills Hospital Building*

  The original “Asylum” was designed by well-known architect (and Charleston native) Robert Mills and opened its doors in 1828. While the building is certainly nice to look at, it also featured some really cool components like fire proof ceilings, central heating and roof top gardens. 



3. Camp Asylum

  In 1864 Confederate forces moved a group of Union POWs from the nearby ‘Camp Sorghum’ to the grounds of the State Hospital, which was then referred to as 'Camp Lunatic' or ‘Camp Asylum’. They were moved north before the Union Army entered Columbia, but after the capital city fell (and a large portion of it burned down in the process) as many as 800 Columbia families camped out on the Asylum grounds.




Drawing of Camp Asylum

4. Town within a town

  Although the State Hospital began with one large well designed building, as its population increased so did the size of the property. By the end of the 20^th century the hospital grounds extended over 170 acres and included numerous buildings. Behind the impressive brick walls that separated the hospital from the city of Columbia, the campus developed into its own small town with laundry facilities, a bakery, a library, repair shops, a church and houses for staff members.


 

Circa 1880s Laundry Building

5. Buildings as a history book

 It probably seems funny to think that a series of buildings can be ‘read’ like a history book, but that is exactly what historians and preservationists have been able to do with the State Hospital campus. Basically, you can walk around the property and see a full history of the treatment of mental illness just by looking at the various buildings. For example, the 1828 Mills Building represents an early progressive attempt to treat the mentally ill while the 1858 Babcock Building was constructed under the Kirkbride Plan with “multi-level blocks around a large central building” which facilitated the separation patients by gender and severity of illness. The c. 1910 Parker Annex was used to house African-Americans and is the only structural evidence left on the property that represents the racial segregation of patients. It is pretty unique to have all these buildings in one place, which is part of the reason why preservationists are so adamant that many of the buildings be saved and adapted into other things - but I’ll leave you to make up your own minds about that.

　

　

　

For a more detailed history of the site, check out these online resources:

SC State Hospital History

Preservation Matters Blog from Historic Columbia Foundation

Palmetto Trust has a good rundown on the history of the plan to redevelop the State Hospital property along with lots of links to other great resources.

This 2010 Free Times article is also makes for good reading on the site's history and the plans to develop the property. Plus, it has lots of nice pictures to go with it : )




* The Mills Building is on the National Historic Landmark List and is not part of the property being sold by the SC Dept. of Mental Health. It is still owned by the state and currently houses offices for SCDHEC employees. Robert Mills also designed the Robert Mills House in Columbia (go take a tour!), the US Treasury Building and the Washington Monument, to name just a few.