Westborough State Hospital (Mass.)

Westborough Insane Hospital was established in 1884 and opened in 1886. It was renamed Westborough State Hospital in 1909.

Westborough Insane Hospital was established by Massachusetts in 1884 and opened in 1886. It was renamed Westborough State Hospital in 1909.

Under the direction of the Dept. of Mental Health, Westborough State Hospital is responsible for providing care and treatment for mentally ill persons in Massachusetts. It serves the departmental Region V, comprising the area south and west of Boston. It offers inpatient services, partial hospitalization, and outpatient programs.

The hospital was established by St 1884, c 322 as the Westborough Insane Hospital to provide care and treatment using homeopathic principles of medicine. It received its current name by St 1909, c 504, s 14. Its enabling legislation provided that it occupy buildings on the grounds of the State Reform School. Alterations were completed and the hospital received its first patients in 1886. Governance was by a seven-member board of trustees appointed by the governor, under the general oversight of the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity and succeeding state mental health agencies.

With the establishment of the hospital, people committed by courts were given the option of receiving homeopathic treatment at the hospital providing there was space for them. Additionally, the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity could transfer patients in other state hospitals to Westborough at their or their family's request.

Legislation establishing hospital districts (St 1887, c 346) provided that Westborough receive regular commitments from Suffolk County in addition to patients requesting homeopathic treatment. It remained legally a homeopathic hospital until 1939 when legislation removed this designation along with requirements that its superintendent and physicians be trained in that school of medicine (St 1939, c 500, ss 2-4). The facility thus became similar to the other state institutions for the mentally ill.

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to the agencies described above can be found by searching the following access points for the time period stated: 1886-1909--Westborough Insane Hospital (Mass.); 1909-present--Westborough State Hospital (Mass.)