Northern State Mental Hospital

Northern State Mental Hospital (also known as Northern State Hospital for the Insane and Northern State Hospital for the Criminally Insane)
Sedro-Woolley, Washington State
By: Lillee Allee

Northern State Mental Hospital, near Sedro-Woolley, was built in 1912 due to the overcrowding at the two asylums in the region. This cottage plan was designed so the institution could be be self-sufficient and to offer therapeutic work for the patients. The first homicide of one patient by another offered in February 1922.Throughout its history, the actual diagnoses were questionable as patients were placed in the hospital by well-meaning and perhaps not so well-meaning family members. Deaths occurred due to such reasons as excessive labor, electroshock therapy, and lobotomies. Though many felt that the name “the Bughouse” as it was locally known was a derogative term, Bugtown was actually the name of the area before the asylum was ever built. By the 1950s, the facility housed 2,700 residents, which was its full capacity. The hospital was closed in 1973. There were 1,500 unmarked burials in cemetery, and at its closing, 204 containers of cremated remains were found in the morgue. These were later buried in Mount Vernon at the Hawthorne Cemetery.