Napa State Hospital is a
psychiatric hospital in
Napa, California, founded in 1875. It is located along
California State Route 221, the Napa-Vallejo Highway, and is one of California's five state mental hospitals. Napa State Hospital holds civil and
forensic mental patients in a sprawling 138-acre campus. According to a hospital spokesperson, there were 2,338 people employed at the facility during the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year, making it one of the region's largest employers.
The
Napa Valley Cricket Club played a number of their matches at McGrath Field, a multi-use sports field, at the eastern end of the hospital campus for the 2017 season.
Originally named Napa Insane Asylum, the facility opened on November 15, 1875. It sat on 192 acres (0.8 square kilometers) of property stretching from the
Napa River to what is now Skyline Park. The facility was originally built to relieve overcrowding at
Stockton Asylum. By the early 1890s, the facility had over 1,300 patients which was more than double the original capacity it was designed to house. In 1893, the
Mendocino State Hospital was opened and relieved some of the overcrowding at the Napa hospital.[1]
The original main building known as "the Castle" was an ornate and imposing building constructed with bricks. Facilities on the property included a large farm that included dairy and poultry ranches, vegetable garden, and fruit orchards that provided a large part of the food supply consumed by the residents. The castle's main building was torn down after
World War II.[2]
This hospital was one of the many state asylums that had sterilization centers.[3] Approximately 4,000 former patients are buried in a field at this hospital, and about 1,400 people were buried at the Sonoma Regional Center (now North Bay Regional Center).[4]
In 1978, this hospital was the site of
the Cramps concert, when several patients attempted to escape.[5]
^"PROMINENT OIL MEN IN AN ARMED RAID?: ACTION BROUGHT FOR SEVENTYFIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Walker Seeking Damages from Los Angeles Speculators--E. C. Huber, Sent to Insane Hospital, Thinks He Has Enormous Fortune. TOUCHING ANXIETY. AFTER HILL'S FORTUNE. CUPID'S UNDERSTUDY. KUTZ PUTS UP MONEY. HUBER INSANE. IMAGINARY FORTUNE. COURT NOTES. BREVITIES MISCELLANEOUS". Los Angeles Times. 13 June 1902. p. A2.
ProQuest164070501.
^Higham, Charles (2006). Murder in Hollywood: Solving a Silent Screen Mystery. Terrace Books. p. 189.
ISBN0-299-20364-6.
^"Thorpe pleads guilty to murder". The Union. Nevada County, California. March 21, 2003.
Archived from the original on September 30, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2023.