South Carolina State Hospital

South Carolina State Hospital
Mills building in 2012
Map
Geography
LocationSouth Carolina, United States
Organization
FundingPublic hospital
TypeSpecialist
Services
Beds410
SpecialityPsychiatric
History
Opened1827
ClosedDecember 2015
Links
ListsHospitals in South Carolina
Mills Building, South Carolina State Hospital
Mills Building, South Carolina State Hospital in 1960
South Carolina State Hospital is located in South Carolina
South Carolina State Hospital
South Carolina State Hospital is located in the United States
South Carolina State Hospital
Location2100 Bull St., Columbia, South Carolina
Coordinates34°0′52″N 81°2′0″W / 34.01444°N 81.03333°W / 34.01444; -81.03333
Built1822
ArchitectRobert Mills; Samuel Sloan
NRHP reference No.70000890
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJune 5, 1970[1]
Designated NHLNovember 7, 1973[2]

The South Carolina State Hospital was a publicly funded state-run psychiatric hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. Founded in 1821 as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, it was one of the first public mental hospitals established in the United States. The Mills Building, its first building, was designed by early American architect Robert Mills, and is a National Historic Landmark.[2][3] The hospital had more than 1,000 patients in 1900, but with the transition of mental health facilities to community settings, it closed in the late 1990s. While buildings on the campus were temporarily used for inpatient services into the early 2000s, they were not part of the State Hospital, but other inpatient facilities of the agency (e.g., Morris Village Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center and G. Werber Bryan Psychiatric Hospital). Several buildings on its campus housed offices and storage facilities of the state's Department of Mental Health until approximately 2014. In October 2014, the Department sold the first parcels of the property into private ownership and received the first sale proceeds ($1.5 Million). The William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute (an inpatient psychiatric facility for children and adolescents) remained on the campus until 2015, when it moved to a new facility on Department's Northeast Columbia Campus. As of January 2021, 100% of the South Carolina State Hospital (also known as "Bull Street") property had been transferred to private ownership. Proceeds from the sale of the Bull Street property must be used to benefit patients of the Agency. As of August 2020, the SC Mental Health Commission had authorized the expenditure of $10 million of the proceeds, $6.5 million, for the development of additional community housing for patients.

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Mills Building, South Carolina State Hospital". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved March 9, 2008.
  3. ^ Tray Stephenson; Bernard Kearse (May 2, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: South Carolina State Hospital Mills Building" (pdf). National Park Service. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying three photos, exterior and interior, from 1970 and undated (32 KB)