Built in 1883, this is the major remaining portion of the original Oregon State Hospital. It is named for
Dr. Thomas Kirkbride, Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, who in the 1850s developed the mental institution design on which the Oregon State Hospital campus was based. The building has an Italianate design with a prominent Now restored, the building houses patient support areas and a court room on the first floor. The second floor contains administrative offices. The building also includes the
Oregon State Hospital Museum of Mental Health," to commemorate the original building and the patients and caregivers who worked here.
The main entrance with the tower is technically "Building #30" and in the original layout was the center of the "U" shaped-main hospital. Over time, the arms of the "U" were extended eastward so that the southern arm stretched for two blocks and the northern arm, along Center Street, for four blocks, creating a backward "J" shape. As a result, the building was known as the "J" building, although the longer extension was also referred to as "Cascade Hall," a term sometimes also applied to the entire structure.
In 2008, work began to tear down most of the dilapidated "J" building. The $458 million project resulted in a new, 620-bed facility. The still-standing portion of the "J", comprised of buildings 42, 41, 30, 44 & 45 has a uniform appearance as though it is one building. While each segment was originally assigned separate buildings numbers by the hospital, the nomination form does not include information specific to each J-building component and treats them as one unit in the inventory description. So for purposes of waymarking, they comprise this one waymark. Buildings 46, 31, 43, 47 & 48, other buildings that completed the rest of the "J" and were part of the original inventory, no longer exist. In their place are modern buildings, pictured in the photo gallery.
Building #29 / "Siskiyou Hall", built from 1950-1958, formerly sat in front of the Kirkbride Building but was razed in 2011, allowing redevelopment of the park area west of the Kirkbride Building. The "Baby Hercules" fountain and a rose garden now occupy the site.
Note: Click a photo to enlarge
Buildings 41, 30 & 44 (left to right) |
Buildings 41 & 30 (left to right) |
Buildings 30, 44 & 45 (left to right) |
Building 45 |
Building 45 (left) & new building |
New Building on Site of Building 43 |