ABOUT THE INDIANA MEDICAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Indiana Medical History Museum | 3045 West Vermont Street | Indianapolis, IN 46222 | (317)635-7329
The Indiana Medical History Museum is located on the grounds of the former Central State Hospital on the near west side of Indianapolis. The heart of the museum is the Old Pathology Building, the oldest surviving pathology facility in the nation. The Building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Inaugurated in 1896, the Pathological Department facilitated medical education and research on the physical causes of mental disease. In operation until the 1960s, the Pathological Department was reborn as a museum in 1969 and its scientifically equipped interior was left intact.
Today, visitors can explore the teaching amphitheater; laboratories for bacteriology, clinical chemistry, histology, and photography; the library, reception room, and records room; as well as the autopsy room and anatomical museum which houses preserved specimens--mostly brains, organized by pathology.
In addition to guided tours of the beautifully preserved Old Pathology Building, the museum offers special events, exhibits, and programs on a range of topics, including the history of science and medicine, mental health care past and present, forensic science, and health careers today.
Central State Hospital, originally known as the "Indiana Hospital for the Insane," opened in 1848. The hospital grounds covered 160 acres on the outskirts of Indianapolis's west side.
Throughout its 150-year history Central State Hospital treated patients with a variety of diagnoses, including schizophrenia (or dementia praecox), depression (melancholia), general paresis, hysteria, alcoholism, senile dementia, and epilepsy. The hospital's Pathological Department opened in 1896 in order to research causes and treatments of these diseases.
At its height around 1950, 2,500 patients were housed at Central State Hospital. With the invention of new medications and the shift toward care in the community, the patient population dwindled in the following decades. After several scandals regarding patient abuse, Central State Hospital closed in 1994.
Researching the history of Central State Hospital?
Click here for some useful resources
The Pathological Department, now the Indiana Medical History Museum's Old Pathology Building, is circled on this 1898 Sanborn Map of the Central Indiana Hospital for the Insane. The 19th-century hospital wards, marked "Department for Men" and "Department for Women" were demolished between the 1940s and the 1970s.
1898 Sanborn Map of Central State Hospital, IUPUI Center for Digital Scholarship, Indianapolis Sanborn Map and Baist Atlas Collection.
Voices from Central State was a Fall 2016 event series spotlighted the patient perspective on life at Indiana's flagship mental institution, Central State Hospital (1848-1994). Click here for more information.
We're currently planning a continuation of the Voices project, an initiative to gather stories from people with connections to Central State Hospital, including former patients, workers, neighbors, and families.
If you are interested in participating, please contact Sarah Halter shalter@imhm.org
The IMHM is a private, nonprofit organization. It is not supported by any state, historical, or medical organization. The historical artifacts of Indiana's medical past are preserved through admission fees, membership dues, and donations.
Officers of the Board of Directors
Board President: Jane Schultz, PhD, professor of English and medical humanities, Director of Literature, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis
Board Vice-President: Cathleen Nine-Altevogt, JD, attorney, Indiana Department of Insurance
Board Treasurer: Lindsay Richey, CPA, Director- Integrated System Financial Services, Indiana University Health
Board Secretary: Kathleen A. Hull, MD, Professor Emerita of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine; head of IMHM Medicinal Plant Garden
Immediate Past President: Julie Ruschhaupt, MSN, RN, BS, ACC-ICF, Director, Experience Design Application, IU Health
Diane Arnold, MSW, LSW, retired Executive Director of Hawthorne Community Center; neighborhood resident
Richard D. Feldman, MD, Program Director for Family Medicine Residency Program and Director of Medical Education, Franciscan St. Francis Health; board member, Indiana Academy of Family Physicians and IAFP Foundation; past Indiana State Health Commissioner
Robert Flint, MD, PhD, Neurologist, Indianapolis, IN; past president Indiana Neurological Society; Chairman, Education Committee Indiana Neurological Society; member, Commission on Education Indiana State Medical Association.
Richard Gantz, PhD, former Executive Director, Indiana State Museum; former Assistant State Historic Preservation Officer and Director, Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology
Guy Hansen, Lilly Scientist in Residence, Eli Lilly & Company
Christopher Kellams, MHA, Vice Chair for Clinical and Academic Administration, Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine
Jeffrey Kellams, MD, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine; Medical Director of the Midtown Mental Health Center; Chief of Psychiatry Services, Eskenazi Health
Leah Knight, APRN-MH, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Midtown Mental Health Center, Indianapolis, IN
Sally Krause, MIS, Director of Marketing and Strategic Communications, Indiana University School of Nursing
Jon Marhenke, MD, retired psychiatrist, Indianapolis, IN
Shirley M. Mueller, MD, CEO/President MyMoneyMD, LLC; former tenured faculty, Indiana University Department of Neurology; board member, American Ceramic Circle; Board of Governors, Indianapolis Museum of Art
Robert M. Pascuzzi, MD, Professor and Chairman of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine
George Sandusky, DVM, PhD, Senior Research Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine; Director, IU Simon Cancer Center Tissue Bank; Co-Director, INBrain (Indiana Center for Biomarker Research in Neuropsychiatry
William H. Schneider, PhD, professor of history and Director of Medical Humanities, IUPUI
James W. Smith, MD, Emeritus Professor and Chairman of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, IU School of Medicine
Clay Stuckey, DDS, retired dentist, Bedford, IN
David R. Zauner, retired forensic scientist; Certified Latent Print Examiner, Indianapolis-Marion County Forensic Services Agency
Respected Board member and pathologist, Glenn B. Mather, M.D., passed away in June, 2009. The Glenn B. Mather, M.D. Memorial Lecture has been established in his honor.
Respected Board member and pathologist John E. Pless, M.D. passed away on March 17, 2014. A memorial has been established in his honor in the Morgue/Autopsy Room of the Indiana Medical History Museum.