In the heart of Utica stands an enormous Greek Revival edifice
rivaling in size and grandeur the palaces of European royalty.
Opened in 1843, the building is 550 feet long with a central
portico of 120 feet, dominated by six limestone columns 48 feet
high and eight feet in diameter. In keeping with the values of
the young American republic, this grand structure was built not
for a privileged aristocracy, but for the care and treatment of
the most forlorn and neglected of our citizens. When it was
opened, the New York State Lunatic Asylum in Utica was the first
such institution in the state and one of the first in the
nation, part of a nationwide response to the call of reformer
Dorothea Dix for humane treatment of the mentally ill, who were
previously housed in jails or in private homes. Thomas
Kirkbride, an early psychiatrist, echoed Dix’s concern by
calling for huge institutions across the nation that could
provide "a special apparatus for the care of lunacy, whose
grounds should be highly improved and tast