Elgin Mental Health Center

Elgin Mental Health Center
Main entrance of the Center Building of the Elgin State Hospital in early 1993, just before demolition
Former names	Elgin State Hospital Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane
General information
Status	Active - Most of old campus demolished
Type	Mental Care Facility Hospital
Architectural style	Italianate
Location	Elgin, IL
Address	750 S State Street[1]
Country	United States
Groundbreaking	1870 (North wing) July 1st, 1873 (Central section and South wing)[1]
Completed	July 30, 1874[1]
Opened	April 3rd, 1872[2]
Closed	1973 (Kirkbride building)[1]
Demolished	Early 1993[1]
Cost	$330,000[1] USD (1874)
Technical details
Structural system	Kirkbride Plan
Material	Brick and stone
Size	North/South length: 776ft 4in [1] East/West width: 401ft [1]
Floor count	4 (Center section and transverse wings) 3 (Intermediate, longitudinal wings)
Grounds	1,139 acres
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Stephen V. Shipman[1]
Developer	State of Illinois
Main contractor	Fish, Stephens and Sorenson (Center section and South wing)[1] W. F. Bushnell & Co (North wing)[1]

The Elgin Mental Health Center (formerly Elgin State Hospital & the Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane) is a mental health facility operated by the State of Illinois in Elgin, Illinois. Throughout its history, Elgin's mission has changed. At times, it treated mental illness, tuberculosis, and provided federally funded care for veterans. The hospital's site, which included a patient-staffed farm reached a maximum of 1,139 acres (461 ha) after World War II.^[3] Its maximum population was reached in the mid 1950s with 7,700 patients. Between 1993 and 2008, most of the older buildings in the complex were demolished due to being in poor condition as the result of being abandoned for decades. The site is/was popular among teens and in the paranormal world due to its claims of hauntings in the older buildings and the hospital's cemetery.