History

The State Asylum for the Insane at Morristown was conceived, designed and constructed in the 1870s as a state of the art medical facility for the treatment of mental illness. The Asylum's varied history illustrates important developments in institutional architecture, state care for the mentally ill, and American psychiatry. Yet, the Asylum for the Insane at Morristown has been overlooked in discussions of New Jersey history, medical history, and the history of asylums. Built as a "modern" hospital for the insane, it continued to be a leader in psychiatric care during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The institutions' continued professionalism was due to the superintendents' high regard for patient care and for their attention to, and application of, the most advanced principles of psychiatric care and medical treatment for the benefit of their patients. Originally designed to house and treat 600 patients, the asylum, later renamed Greystone, grew into a self-contained community during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the first 75 years of its history, the facility expanded to accommodate over 6,000 patients. This extraordinary growth created serious difficulties in providing the individualized care for which Victorian asylums were originally designed. Greystone's superintendents implemented innovative solutions to treat and care for the large patient population and the facility that housed them.

In 1871, the asylum commissioners selected a site for the new asylum in Hanover Township, Morris County to house various classes of patients in separate wards, each having dining and exercise rooms. The location was three miles from Morristown, and one quarter of a mile from Morris Plains. Like the Trenton asylum, it gave patients the benefit of a peaceful and beautiful rural setting. The site was also close to Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson, the major industrial cities of northern New Jersey. Greystone’s rural setting provided for a healthful, quiet, bucolic setting for its patients, yet it was easily accessible by train for patient visitors and state officials, and for receiving supplies. The site also had ample spring water and a granite quarry. The initial purchase consisted of 335 acres costing almost $67,000. The chairman of the committee for locating and purchasing a site, George Vail, had to resign when it was found that he was either a part or full owner of the land selected. Additional contracts were purchased between 1871 and 1872, bringing the total cost to the state to nearly $79,000 for 408 acres. Construction was supervised by Major Martin B. Monroe and Dr. Horace A. Buttolph.

The asylum building was built on Dr. Thomas S. Kirkbride’s asylum principles known as “The Kirkbride Plan.” Greystone’s patientcare principles and employee attitudes were based on Kirkbride’s philosophy and were firmly established under the first superintendent, Horace Buttolph. Buttolph was a friend of Kirkbride’s. He was a firm believer in the Kirkbride Plan as demonstrated by his administration at the Trenton Asylum and at Greystone. Buttolph's basic principles continued under succeeding superintendents and medical directors.

Architect Samuel Sloan and Trenton State Asylum Superintendent Buttolph collaborated and designed Greystone’s internal space in the Kirkbride Plan in accordance with the most advanced philosophy given to asylum patient care of the period. Construction began on the asylum in 1871. Greystone’s original design allowed for the accommodation of 600 patients with 673,706 square feet. The building’s size was among the largest, if not the largest of the period. For comparison, the Texas State Lunatic Asylum was built around the same time, but could only accommodate 130 patients in 1879. The State Asylum for the Insane at Morristown finally received its first patients from the overcrowded State Lunatic Asylum in Trenton on August 17, 1876. The first 292 patients transferred were originally from northern New Jersey. Thereafter, Greystone received patients from the northern counties, while the Trenton asylum received them from the southern counties. This arrangement practically guaranteed that Greystone would be plagued with problems of overcrowding because the northern counties had a large industrial immigrant population yet the southern ones were predominately agricultural. The Board of Commissioners in Trenton announced the asylum’s opening and availability for admissions in northern New Jersey newspapers. By October 1876, 54 additional patients had been admitted, for a total of 346 patients “nearly all of whom were of the most unfavorable class.” After the opening, the State Board of Managers made weekly visits to Greystone and in 1876 testified to the “faithful and humane manner in which the various attendants have performed their duties, and the perfect order and cleanliness in which the various wards dormitories and other apartments are kept in.”

The Morristown facility faced the challenge of over-crowding early in its history. In 1880, the asylum population in New Jersey was 1,632, divided almost equally between the asylum in Trenton and the new asylum in Morristown. By 1914, the Morristown Asylum housed 2,412 patients, but had maximum capacity of 1,600 patients, yet the Trenton asylum had only 1,600 patients in the 1914 census of state institutions. While the patient population at the State Asylum in Trenton remained constant, Greystone's patient load increased rapidly and impacted patient care. To relieve overcrowding, many states constructed new asylums. In comparison with other states, New Jersey funded few asylums. After Greystone’s opening in 1876, the Garden State had only two state funded asylums where as New York had nine, Ohio had seven, Michigan had five, and even Mississippi had four state funded asylums.

In 1887, eleven years after the hospital opened, the exercise rooms on the wards were converted to dormitories to accommodate the hospital's jump in population. In 1901, in attempt to relieve the overcrowding, the Dormitory Building was built to the rear of the Main Building. It still wasn't enough and in the same year the Main Building dining rooms had to be converted into dormitories.

In 1921, a survey conducted by the State Board of Mental Hygiene, found all State Hospitals overcrowded and in dire need of repairs, especially Greystone Park. The State funded repairs and new construction, specifically to assist Greystone Park's expansion and to meet the needs of the 2,700 patients. As a result, by 1927, the Curry Complex was completed along with a new power plant, barns, greenhouses, a fire station and auxiliary buildings. The Curry Complex consisted of a Reception Building, Clinic Building, large staff congregate dining rooms and new housing for staff. The Clinic Building, which was the first building opened in 1923, closed 52 years later when the Central Avenue Complex opened in 1975. The Reception Building was closed in 1976 and the dining rooms in the mid-1980's.

In 1924 the hospital was renamed Greystone Park after the building stones which are a light grey gneiss, resembling granite. By then the use of the word "Lunatic" was dropped from common use when referring to the mentally ill. In 1929 and 1930 there were two serious fires in the Main Building, one destroyed the attic and the other fire destroyed the first floor center. Both fires were started as a result of unsupervised fireplaces which were commonly used throughout the hospital.

In 1930 the Chest Building (TB Treatment Center) and 30 Ellis Drive were opened. The Chest Building housed mentally ill patients suffering from tuberculosis. Due to the decrease in tuberculosis, this building was closed in the mid 1970's. 30 Ellis Drive was eventually used as the Children's Unit (patients under the age of 18) It closed in the early 1980's and remodeled for adult patient occupancy. Today, it is presently in use as the Admission Unit. In 1940, 10 and 50 Ellis Drive opened, and in 1974, 34 years later a major renovation was completed.

In the late 1940's Greystone Park's patient population had reached 7,000. During this period many patients were veterans and victims of World War II "Postwar Trauma." At the time, Greystone was one of the few hospitals able to provide the only available treatment for this condition which was Insulin Shock Coma and Electro-Convulsive Therapy.

The late 1970's and early 1980's saw a movement toward de-institutionalization which further reduced the hospital's census.

106 years later, on another Summer Day, August 12, 1982, the hospital expanded its facilities when it officially opened twenty "independent living" cottages; each cottage providing housing for eight patients.

In 1999, an affiliation agreement was instituted between Greystone Park and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) was established. Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital currently serves 550 patients. The Hospital because of its aging physical plant will be replaced with a new building that will continue to serve the Northern Region of New Jersey. The Kirkbride will be renovated and saved due to its historical value. Future plans for the Kirkbride remain unclear.

Margaret Shultz & Janet J. Monroe