Since the 1960’s Asylums have been viewed negatively and for good reasons. Some abused their patients, nearly all tried treatments that were deadly or inhumane to the patients in order to cure them. They also housed all the people that society didn’t see fit to participate in a normal society.
Now most are viewed as haunted buildings were terrible things happened. But this wasn’t always the case, once upon a time asylums were state of the art buildings that not only took in people that needed help but also gave them work. Cities were glad to have them, and it usually brought a level of prestige to the nearby city and its citizens. But time changed that and now-a-days we call asylums mental hospitals and now very few patients are housed. But we should never forget that things can change quickly, and things that were once revered can become despised and unwanted.
The Wood County Asylum is one of these buildings. Built in 1910 it was a magnificent accomplishment and viewed as one of the top in the nation. It housed up to 200 patients and was consistently being praised by other cities and asylums. But starting in the 1960’s, its respect and respect for all asylums began to falter. People found out about treatments and deemed them unacceptable, such as the electroshock therapy. New medicines also came into play, making it quicker to help patients with diseases or metal problems. And new laws coming from patients fighting for their rights all changed what people thought and how asylums could conduct their therapies. As for the Wood County Asylum, it had been a custodial asylum, and people housed their worked the farms, kitchens and parts of the asylum. Making it mostly self-producing, but as new laws and treatments came out, that type of therapy became obsolete.
All of a sudden an Asylum that every city was fighting for 50 years earlier was not wanted. Mostly because it would cost taxpayers more money than they were willing to pay and the fact that asylums now had negative connotations associated with them. This played a major factor in where the new asylum was to be built in Marshfield. In 1972 it was decided that the asylum would not be built right on the main street of Marshfield since it would cost too much and people feared what the asylum would do to the land value, but it would also not be built on the same land that it had currently been built on since its location no longer served its purpose. Instead it was built on a road adjacent to Main Street, behind a bowling alley and not too far from the Marshfield clinic. To this day that is where the new asylum called Norwood is located, unfortunately it is still viewed negatively since it’s where all the “insane” people go, but in truth it’s just another place for people to go to get help, just like it was meant to be a century ago.
Wisconsin Rediscovered 