Which psychiatric hospital has a larger capacity, The Psychiatric Institute of Washington or St. Elizabeths Hospital?
St. Elizabeths Hospital St. Elizabeths Hospital opened in 1855 as the first federally operated psychiatric hospital in the United States. Housing over 8,000 patients at its peak in the 1950s, the hospital at one point had a fully functioning medical-surgical unit, a school of nursing, and accredited internships and psychiatric residencies. Its campus was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990.
Elizabeth Gibson Elizabeth Gibson was a Union nurse during the American Civil War. On October 1, 1861, Gibson received orders from Dorothea Dix to report to St. Louis, Missouri as soon as possible. The very next day, Gibson was sent to duty upon arrival; she was assigned to the surgical ward of Fifth Street Military Hospital, where she would serve for twenty-one months. On July 24, 1863, Gibson moved downriver to the Jefferson Barracks, only to be transferred again on October 26 to the Harvey General Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin.