Anoka State Hospital

[rodentraiser]

Reading about the other hospitals here, I was wondering if anyone had ever done an investigation on Anoka State Hospital? It was actually a bunch of buildings with an alcoholic wing and a juvenile building (away from "The Hill", as we called it), but mainly I had heard there were tunnels connecting the building and those were supposed to be haunted. Er, I suppose I should add that I was there in the juvenile building in the early 70s, and I never saw or experienced anything unusual while I was there. I was actually there until the juveniles' building was closed, which was how I ended up getting out.

Anoka State Hospital, Anoka, Minnesota

Edit with form

Anoka State Hospital

Aerial view of Anoka State Hospital (1937)

Anoka State Hospital from the air (1957) City/locality-

State/province Anoka, Minnesota County-

State/province: Anoka County, Minnesota State/province: Minnesota Country: United States Year Established: 1900 Historic Function: State Hospital

Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center (Executive Order No. 85-17) is the current name of what was originally the First State Asylum for the Insane (1900-1919), Anoka State Asylum (1919-1937), and Anoka State Hospital (1937-1985). Opening in 1900, the hospital was originally serving as a transfer asylum, admitted patients who were transferred from the states receiving hospitals. In 1951, it, too, became a receiving hospital. The first residents, 100 male patients, came from St. Peter State Hospital and were considered to be "chronic, incurables." By 1906, 115 female patients had been transferred to the hospital from the facility in St. Peter. In 1909, it was decided that Anoka would admit only female transfer patients and that the state hospital in Hastings would admit the male transfer patients. However, construction of an additional building in 1925 allowed the hospital once again to admit male patients.

The hospital now administers programs for the treatment of mentally ill adults from Anoka, Hennepin, Sherburne, and Ramsey counties, and treats chemically dependent adults from Sherburne, Anoka, and Hennepin counties. An infirmary and clinic are provided for the physical health care of all residents at the hospital. Any previous programs, a treatment center for the mentally ill with tuberculosis (1948-1967) as well as programs for emotionally disturbed children and adolescents (1970s), have been discontinued.