STATE INSTITUTIONS.

Hospitals for the Insane-College for the Blind-Institutions for the Deaf and Dumb-Orphans' Homes-Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children-The Penitentiary-The Additional Penitentiary State Reform School-State Historical Society.

HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, MT. PLEASANT, HENRY COUNTY.

THE General Assembly, by an act approved January 24, 1855, appropriated $4,425 to purchase a site for a Hospital for the Insane, and $50,000 for the erection of a building. Edward Johnston, of Lee county; Charles S. Clarke, of Henry county, and the Governor (Grimes), were appointed to select the location and superintend the erection of a building. They made the location at Mt. Pleasant, Henry county, and adopted a plan with sufficient capacity to accommodate three hundred patients. Henry Winslow was appointed to superintend the erection of the building. The building was not ready for occupancy until March, 1861. Within the first three months about one hundred patients were admitted. Richard J. Patterson, M. D., of Ohio, was appinted Superintendent, and in 1865 he was succeeded by Dr. Mark Ranney. From the opening of the Hospital to the 1st of November, 1877, there had been admitted 3,584 patients, of whom 1,141 had been discharged recovered, 505 improved, 589 unimproved, and one died. The total number discharged was 2,976, leaving 608 under treatment.

HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, INDEPENDENCE, BUCHANAN COUNTY.

In 1868 a bill passed the General Assembly making an appropriation of $125,000 for the erection of an additional Hospital for the Insane, at Independence, Buchanan county. A board of commissioners was appointed, who commenced their duties June 8, 1868. They made the location about a mile from Independence, on the west side of the Wapsipinicon river, and about one mile from the river. The building was ready for occupancy April 21, 1873. On the 1st of October, 1877, the Superintendent, Albert Reynolds, M. D., reported 322 patients in the hospital.

COLLEGE FOR THE BLIND, VINTON, BENTON COUNTY.

In August, 1852, Prof. Samuel Bacon, himself blind, established an institution at Keokuk for the instruction of the blind. In January, 1853, the General Assembly passed an act by which the State adopted the institution at Keokuk, and on the 4th of April, of the same year, it was opened for the reception of pupils, at Iowa City. A board of trustees was appointed, with authority to receive propositions and make a permanent location. Liberal donations were made by citizens of Vinton, Benton county, and that place was selected. In October, 1862, the institution was opened at Vinton with twenty-four pupils. Up to 1878 about $285,000 have been expended in buildings and improvements connected with this institution. During the period of two years, ending November 6, 1877, about 135 pupils were in attendance. The faculty is presided over by Rev. Robert Carothers, A. M., as Principal.

INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, COUNCIL BLUFFS, POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY.

This institution was established first at Iowa City, by an act of the General Assembly, approved January 24, 1855. W. E. Ijams was the first Principal. He resigned in 1862, and the board of trustees appointed Benjamin Talbot his successor. In 1868 commissioners were appointed to relocate the institution and superintend the erection of a building, and the sum of $125,000 was appropriated to commence the work. It was located about two miles south of Council Bluffs, and connected with it is a tract of about ninety acres of ground. The main building and one wing were completed October 1, 1870, and immediately occupied. On the 25th of February, 1877, the main building and east wing were destroyed by fire, and and on the 6th of August, of the same year, the roof of the new west wing was blown off and the walls partially injured by a tornado. About 150 pupils were in attendance at the time of the fire. About half of the classes were dismissed, reducing the number to about seventy. The institution remains in charge of Benjamin Talbot as Superintendent. By an act of the General Assembly, approved March 25, 1878, the sum of $40,000 was ap propriated for the purpose of rebuilding and completing in a plain and substantial manner the main building.

SOLDIERS' ORPHANS' HOMES, DAVENPORT, CEDAR FALLS, GLENWOOD.

In 1866 the General Assembly passed an act establishing three Homes for the soldiers' orphans, as follows: located at Davenport, Cedar Falls, and Glenwood. This was the result of a movement inaugurated by Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer, during the civil war. In October, 1863, she called a convention at Davenport, to devise measures for the support and education of the orphan children of Iowa soldiers who had fallen in the national defense. An association was formed, and provision made for raising funds. A sufficient amount of funds was raised to open the Home, and at a meeting of the Trustees in March, 1864, they decided to commence operations at once. A large brick building in Van Buren county was secured, and on the 13th of July, of the same year, the executive committee reported that they were ready to receive pupils. In little more than six months seventy pupils were in attendance. The Home continued to be sustained by voluntary subscriptions until 1866, when it was assumed by the State and the three Homes established as above stated. In 1876 the Homes at Cedar Falls and Glenwood were discontinued, and the pupils remaining in them removed to the Home at Davenport. The buildings at Cedar Falls were appropriated to the use of the State Normal School, and those at Glenwood to the use of the Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children. September 30, 1877, there were in attendance at the Home in Davenport 139 soldiers' orphans, and forty-one indigent children, the Sixteenth General Assembly having passed an act opening the Home for the admission of indigent children.

ASYLUM FOR FEEBLE-MINDED CHILDREN, GLENWOOD, MILLS COUNTY.

By an act approved March 17, 1876, an Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children was established at Glenwood, Mills county. The buildings and grounds for the Soldiers' Orphans' Home were by the same act transferred

to the use of the new institution, which was placed under the management of three trustees, who held their first meeting at Glenwood, April 26, 1876. The property having been repaired, the Asylum was opened September 1, 1876, and the school organized on the 6th with only five pupils. In November, 1877, the number had increased to eighty-seven.

THE PENITENTIARY, FORT MADISON, LEE COUNTY.

The Territorial Legislature by an act approved January 25, 1839, provided for the election by joint ballot of the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory, of three directors to locate the Penitentiary within one mile of the public square in the town of Fort Madison, and provided further, limiting the cost of the Penitentiary to an amount not exceeding forty thousand dollars. The same act authorized the Governor to draw the sum of twenty thousand dollars which had been appropriated by Congress for the erection of public buildings in the Territory of Iowa, to pay for materials and work on the building. The location at Fort Madison, however, was coupled with a proviso that the citizens of that place and Lee county should execute to the directors a deed for ten acres of ground. the conditions were complied with, and the erection of the building was commenced July 9, 1839. The main building and warden's house were completed in the autumn of 1841. Since that time additions and other improvements have been made.

ADDITIONAL PENITENTIARY, ANAMOSA, JONES COUNTY

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The Additional Penitentiary at Anamosa was established under an act of the General Assembly approved April 3, 1872. Three commissioners were appointed to make the location and provide for the erection of the necessary buildings. They met at Anamosa, June 4, 1872, and made selection of a site donated by the citizens. Work was commenced on the building September 28th of the same year, and May 13, 1873, twenty convicts were transferred from the Penitentiary at Fort Madison to Anamosa. The entire enclosure embraces fifteen acres.

THE STATE REFORM SCHOOL, ELDORA, HARDIN COUNTY.

On the 31st of March, 1868, an act of the General Assembly was approved establishing a State Reform School near the town of Salem, Henry county. A board of trustees, consisting of one from each Congressional district, was appointed. A proposition was accepted for the lease of White's Iowa Manual Labor Institute at Salem, the buildings fitted up, and on the 7th of October, 1868, the first inmate was received from Jasper county. In 1872, an act was passed and approved providing for the permanent location, and $45,000 appropriated for erecting the necessary buildings. The permanent location was made at Eldora, Hardin county. Inmates are admitted at ages over seven and under sixteen years. The object of this school is the reformation of juvenile offenders.

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

This society was organized in 1856, under an act of the Sixth General Assembly, "for the purpose of collecting, arranging and preserving books, pamphlets, maps, charts, manuscripts, papers, paintings, statuary, and other