Boston Psychopathic Hospital


The Boston Psychopathic Hospital was one of the first mental health hospitals in Massachusetts, United States.

History of the establishment

In November 1909 the site for the hospital was purchased on Fenwood Road, 5 minutes' walk from Harvard Medical School. Elmer Ernest Southard was appointed director of the hospital early in 1910, to supervise its construction. On June 24, 1912 the Psychiatric Hospital was formally opened as a department of Boston State Hospital.
On May 1, 1919 the Massachusetts State Psychiatric Institute was separated from the Psychopathic Department of the Boston State Hospital, which relieved the psychopathic department of scientific research, leaving it with purely hospital functions. On December 1, 1920 the psychopathic department was made into a separate Boston Psychopathic Hospital, under director C. Macfie Campbell. In the late 1960s it was renamed the Massachusetts Mental Health Center.