Taunton State Hospital (Mass.)

Under the direction of the Dept. of Mental Health, Taunton State Hospital is responsible for providing residential care and treatment for mentally ill persons in Massachusetts, as one of two state hospitals serving the departmental Region VII, comprising southeastern Massachusetts.

The hospital was built to alleviate overcrowded conditions at the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester. With authorization by St 1851, c 251, the facility opened as the State Lunatic Hospital at Taunton in the spring of 1854 with a five-member board of trustees appointed by the governor pursuant to St 1853, c 318. From 1863 the board was under the general oversight of the Board of State Charities and succeeding state mental health agencies.

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