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By: Kathryn Simmons
Vocational buildings at mental institutions tend to take a backseat to the more established patient wards in status and prominence. The history of the Laundry and the Bakery at the South Carolina State Hospital for the Insane has certainly fallen by the wayside due to their reputation as more menial structures. Nonetheless, these two distinct structures possess architectural integrity and history making them value worthy of preservation. They exemplify the importance and the history of occupational therapy in psychiatry during nineteenth-century America, and they both set the standard for the construction of other buildings of the same vernacular style at other sites.
The introduction of occupational therapy significantly changed mid-nineteenth-century American psychiatric treatment. It suggested that being in a routine set in a peaceful and supportive environment can be restorative, allowing the curing process to proceed, and even to accelerate.[1] Therefore, it was common for hospital staff to encourage the mentally ill to work while under the care of an institution.[2] This kind of occupational therapy was no different at the Columbia Division on Bull Street. Individuals with less serious ailments were given permission, even encouraged, to perform tasks around the campus, including working in places such as the institution’s bakery and laundry.
Positioned directly behind the Babcock building, and different than the laundry facility that is still standing today, the original Laundry on Mills Drive was erected in 1884. Prior to its completion, the structure was initially a steam plant; however, it was adaptively reused as the mental hospital’s first official laundry facility.[3] The Building Committee reported that this “neat, substantial brick structure” was nearly completed in 1882; however, they needed a small appropriation in the amount of $94.45 in order to finish the job.[4] Even more, the place where clothing and linen were laundered prior to this time was considerably modest: The Sixty-Second Annual Report indicates that a large brick room was added to the Laundry building in its early years, replacing a wooden shed that was used for washing dirty laundry.[5] Even though it was not originally built as a laundry, this means that the original Laundry building on Mills Drive provided the first established and longstanding structure for these particular tasks to be performed.
The Laundry building that still stands consists of a central section with extended wings, and is elevated to two levels. It also houses a cupola, which is comparable to the one located on the roof of Babcock, even though its iconic neighbor’s is more cylindrical. The Laundry is a structure more vernacular and occupational in nature, supplied with an engine and boiler as well as basic machinery for washing, drying, and ironing. The building itself is analogous to many other laundry facilities in the States as well, including those regarded as the best in the country. Though, designing the buildings to resemble one another was done merely out of convenience and building efficiency.[6] The Spring Grove Hospital Center in Williamsburg, Virginia, for instance, is the second oldest psychiatric hospital in the nation; it houses a one-story laundry building similar in style to the one at Bull Street.[7]
An earthquake on August 31, 1885 brought destruction to several buildings, including the Laundry. It left many in turmoil, and the Building Committee issued a deposition to rebuild many aspects of the campus as a result. It also wanted to take the proper precautions to ensure that the structures could withstand similar disasters in the future. The Laundry was supplied with indoor hydrants and sufficient hose; following an accident at City Water Supply, the workers were asked to find an alternative source as well. They dug a large well in the rear of the building as a result. In the end, a considerable amount of funds was spent on maintenance and improvements that year, including a tank and steam pump.[8] Regrettably, tragedy struck once again when the Laundry was consumed by fire two years later in 1887. The structure’s insurance, amounting to nearly $6,000, allowed the Building Committee to make plans to construct another laundry plant, to repair the boilers and the grist mill, and to purchase a new engine.[9]
The patients working in the Laundry aided in these changes and in the upkeep of the building as part of their occupational therapy. According to archival records, these patients—as well as others who received the same type of therapy—were not paid but merely encouraged to work.[10] The Mental Health Board and others in higher authority declared it was solely for the benefit of the patients and occupational therapy purposes, yet this proves to be rather suspicious since the hospital was benefiting from a substantial amount of free labor. These patients were among others who aided in the maintenance and sustainment of these vocational buildings, but the patients highly outnumbered them.
This structure stood for only three years before a newly constructed Bakery joined it in 1900. At a height of fifteen and a half feet, it features a central portion; and it contains machinery for baking and two ovens, as well as two wings assigned for storing bread and flour.[11] Like the Laundry building at the Columbia Division of the State Hospital, there were facilities similar in style and architecture to the Bakery at other institutions, such as the Bakery at the United States Military Academy at West Point.[12] Patients that worked at the Bakery as part of their occupational therapy were responsible for preparing baked goods for everyone on the campus as well as those at the Pineland Training School. They worked in conjunction with the central kitchen, which was where they baked goods prior to the building’s construction: The patients prepared any necessary items in the Bakery, and then delivered those to the kitchen, which was where the main food was prepared. Workers then carried the meals to each dining room and dormitory in “food trains.”[13] This system of production influenced a similar arrangement when the Bakery and the kitchens merged in the early 1950s, known today as the Food Services Building. This new facility provided more efficient food preparation and serving, and many called it the best in the Southeast.[14]
Around the same time, the Board of Health contracted the Columbia architectural firm Lafaye & Lafaye to lay the foundation for the development and construction of a new Laundry and Bakery at State Park. Overseen by Robert S. Lafaye, the Laundry building was completed on January 10, 1914.[15] The staff and patients needed these new facilities, especially the Laundry, because the existing ones failed to meet the hospital’s needs.[16] The annual reports frequently lamented the overcrowded conditions of the hospital; and, similar to the events at the Columbia Division, the Laundry facility regrettably could not keep up with the demands. During the latter part of 1959, the Board of Health contracted the laundry management consulting services of Victor Kramer Co., Inc. in hopes of establishing a facility that provided better quality and more efficient service. Establishing a Bakery and a Laundry facility at State Park authorized the decommission of their former counterparts at the Columbia Division, for these new structures were purpose-built to serve not only the State Hospital at Bull Street, but also the penitentiary, the youth reformatories in the surrounding area, and Whitten Village upstate.[17]
Standing in the shadows of the grand Babcock building for almost a century, the Laundry and the Bakery both have an architectural history worthy of preservation. These structures illustrate the importance and the history of occupational therapy at the height of nineteenth-century psychiatry. They—in addition to their counterparts at State Park—also set the standard for similar vocational buildings, such as the Laundry at the Spring Grove Hospital Center and the Bakery at West Point. Each annual report and archived document further exemplified and proved this. These two buildings were imperative for the effective treatment of each patient—not just those who worked there. They were more than just a laundry and a bakery.
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[1] Katherine Ziff, Asylum on the Hill: History of a Healing Landscape (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2012), 7.
[2] Carla Yanni, The Architecture of Madness: Insane asylums in the United States (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007), 74-75.
[3] 1958 Report of Committee to Study Mental Health Laws and Facilities, The South Carolina Picture, 17, Box 10A, Series 190018, State Dept. of Mental Health Office of the State Commissioner Administrative, correspondence, and speech files of the superintendent/state commissioner ca. 1919-1973, “Laundry 1959 thru 1960,” South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, SC. (Hereafter referred to as SCDAH)
[4] 59th Annual Report of the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum for the Fiscal Year 1881-82, 7-14, Container 1, Series 190002, Mental Health Commission, Annual Reports of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health 1838-1903, SCDAH.
[5] 62nd Annual Report of the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum for the Fiscal Year 1884-85, 23, Container 1, Series 190002, Mental Health Commission, Annual Reports of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health 1838-1903, SCDAH.
[6] 62nd Annual Report of the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum for the Fiscal Year 1884-85, 23, Container 1, Series 190002, Mental Health Commission, Annual Reports of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health 1838-1903, SCDAH; 59th Annual Report of the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum for the Fiscal Year 1881-82 (p. 11), Container 1, Series 190002, Mental Health Commission, Annual Reports of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health 1838-1903, SCDAH.
[7] “Spring Grove Hospital: A History of Spring Grove,” last modified July 20, 2011, http://www.springgrove.com/history.html
[8] 63rd Annual Report of the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum for the Fiscal Year 1885-86, 9-10, Container 1, Series 190002, Mental Health Commission, Annual Reports of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health 1838-1903, SCDAH.
[9] 74th Annual Report of the South Carolina State Hospital for the Insane for the Year 1887, 6, Container 1, Series 190002, Mental Health Commission, Annual Reports of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health 1838-1903, SCDAH.
[10] “A New Laundry for Negro Division is Called Greatest Need,” Series 19008, State Dept. of Mental Health Agency General Reference Scrapbooks, 1951-1964, Newspaper Clippings; Unlabeled black binder, SCDAH
[11] 77th Annual Report of the South Carolina State Hospital for the Insane for the Year 1900, 15, Container 1, Series 190002, Mental Health Commission, Annual Reports of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health 1838-1903, SCDAH.
[12] “State Hospital’s New Kitchen and Bakery Called Best in the Southeast,” The State Newspaper, Series 19008, State Dept. of Mental Health Agency General Reference Scrapbooks, 1951-1964, Newspaper Clippings; Unlabeled black binder, SCDAH.
[13] “A New Laundry for Negro Division is Called Greatest Need,” Series 19008, State Dept. of Mental Health Agency General Reference Scrapbooks, 1951-1964, Newspaper Clippings; Unlabeled black binder, SCDAH.
[14] “State Hospital’s New Kitchen and Bakery Called Best in the Southeast,” The State Newspaper, Series 19008, State Dept. of Mental Health Agency General Reference Scrapbooks, 1951-1964, Newspaper Clippings; Unlabeled black binder, SCDAH.
[14] “A New Laundry for Negro Division is Called Greatest Need,” Series 19008, State Dept. of Mental Health Agency General Reference Scrapbooks, 1951-1964, Newspaper Clippings; Unlabeled black binder, SCDAH.
[15]4th Annual Report of State Hospital Commission to the General Assembly of South Carolina 1913, 2, Container 2, Series 190002, Mental Health Commission, Annual Reports of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health 1905-1958, SCDAH.
[16] “A New Laundry for Negro Division is Called Greatest Need,” Series 19008, State Dept. of Mental Health Agency General Reference Scrapbooks, 1951-1964, Newspaper Clippings; Unlabeled black binder, SCDAH.
[17] Barnett, Joe. “New Pen Cellblock, State-Use Laundry Are Okayed by Board,” The State Newspaper, Box 10A, Series 190018, State Dept. of Mental Health Office of the State Commissioner Administrative, correspondence, and speech files of the superintendent/state commissioner ca. 1919-1973, “Laundry 1959 thru 1960,” SCDAH.