In the early 19th century, Massachusetts was in the vanguard of states to take an active role in the care of the mentally ill. The “Northampton Lunatic Hospital” opened in 1858. It was built in an optimistic spirit of humanitarian reform which held that mental illness could be cured if the afflicted were provided with the appropriate environment and healthy influences. Both the location and the physical design of the building were intended to enhance the therapeutic effect of the hospital. Set on a hill a mile west of the town center, it was surrounded by expansive grounds and afforded a beautiful view of the Connecticut River Valley.

The main entry of the hospital opened to a large and ornate rotunda.

By the dawn of the 20th century, the newly renamed, overcrowded, “Northampton State Hospital” housed six hundred people. But the bucolic vision had dimmed; the hospital was severely overcrowded and gradually served primarily as a roof over the heads of the patients, many of them left there and forgotten. In 1978 a consent decree mandated the development of an array of community housing and services. A very aggressive timetable was adopted for placing clients out in the community and reducing the census at the hospital. The last eleven patients left Northampton State Hospital in a van shortly before 10 am on Thursday, August 26, 1993.

Viriginia Murphy Occupational Therapy

Village Hill Northampton, as the site is now called, still offers the beautiful views that were once seen as part of the cure, but little remains of the hospital whose history mirrors the changing American views of mental health care over 135 years. Today the “Hill” is a new community of single-family townhouses, cottages, multifamily housing, commercial and — hopefully soon — retail businesses. Vanished: the Hospital on the Hill tells the story of the Northampton State Hospital through photographs and the words of the employees. This exhibition grew out of an oral history project initiated in 1992 by hospital employees who wished to record and preserve their experiences as workers on “Hospital Hill.” At the opening reception on February 14th, Tom Riddell, Professor Emeritus of Economics and American Studies at Smith College will present a gallery talk at 6 pm, "The Long March to Memorializing Northampton State Hospital." Vanished: the Hospital on the Hill is open Tuesday - Saturday 10 am to 5 pm and Sundays 12 noon to 5 pm.