Dorothea Dix - Boston, MA
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neoc1
N 42° 21.496 W 071° 03.794
19T E 330086 N 4691617
A monument honoring social reformer Dorothea Dix is located on the hallway wall outside Doric Hall in the Massachusetts State House at 24 Beacon Street, Boston, MA.
Waymark Code: WMPFZW
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/25/2015
Views: 5
The State House Women’s Leadership Project has commemorated Dorothea Dix with a monument in the Massachusetts State House. She is one of six women, so honored, that have contributed to the government of the Commonwealth. A life size relief sculpture of Dorothea Dix is presented within a circular opening near the bottom of a rectangular slab of green marble.
The top of the slab has the inscription:
I COME TO PRESENT the strong claims of
suffering humanity. I come to place before
the Legislature of Massachusetts the condition,
of the miserable, the desolate, the outcast.
I come as an advocate of helpless, forgotten,
insane men and women; of beings, sunk
to a condition from which the unconcerned
would start with real horror.
Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts, 1843
Above her sculpture is inscribed:
I TELL WHAT I HAVE SEEN
{Sculpture}
DOROTHEA DIX
The lower side frame of the monument has the her date of birth and death: 1802-1887
Dorothea Lynde Dix was a social reformer who fought for the better treatment of the indigent who were mentally ill. During 1840 to 1841 she conducted a statewide investigation of care for the insane poor in Massachusetts. By her lobbying efforts of state legislatures and the United States Congress, she is largely responsible for the creation of the first American mental asylums. During the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, she served as Superintendent of Army Nurses.
The Massachusetts State House is open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm. All visitors must enter through the General Hooker entrance.