New York (State). Dept. of Mental Hygiene.

  1. New York (State). Dept. of Mental Hygiene.
  2. Version History

For the first fifty years of the State's history, local governments and private agencies were responsible for the care of New York State's mentally ill. In 1836 (Chapter 82), the legislature authorized the construction of the State's first mental health institution, the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, which opened in 1843. By 1890, the State had opened nine additional asylums for the mentally ill. Local governments were responsible for expenses of inmates at these asylums and continued to confine the mentally ill in jails and poorhouses. In 1867 (Chapter 951), the legislature established the Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities to inspect and report to the legislature all publicly funded charitable and custodial institutions. Legislation in 1873 (Chapter 571) replaced this board with a new State Board of Charities, mandated licensing of public and private institutions for the mentally ill, and created the office of state commissioner in lunacy. This commissioner's office was abolished in 1889 (Chapter 283) and replaced by an independent State Commission in Lunacy consisting of three gubernatorial appointees. The 1894 State constitution subsequently transferred the responsibility of inspecting mental institutions from the State Board of Charities to this commission.

In 1890 (Chapter 126), the State took on the entire responsibility for the care of New York State's mentally ill. The State thereby began providing for the care of all indigent mentally ill at State expense in State institutions and prohibited their confinement in jails and poorhouses. In 1912 (Chapter 121), the commission was renamed the State Hospital Commission and was given responsibility for the administration of the State's mental hospitals. In 1918 (Chapter 197), State supervision of care for the mentally handicapped was further centralized with the creation of the State Commission on the Feeble-Minded. Renamed the State Commission for Mental Defectives in 1919 (Chapter 633), it supervised the care of "mentally defective" persons at five State special-care institutions.

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