History of Eastern State Hospital

  
       
    Eastern State Hospital has the honor of being the first public facility in the United States constructed solely for the care and treatment of the mentally ill. In the summer of 1770, Colonial legislators met in Williamsburg, the capital of the Virginia colony, and passed a bill authorizing the construction of a hospital for this purpose. The building was erected on an eight-acre site near the College of William and Mary, and the first patients were admitted on October 12, 1773.  
       
    The Hospital provided treatment during the turbulent crises of both the Revolutionary War and the War Between the States. By the mid-1930s, Eastern State Hospital had expanded significantly from its early beginnings. Because of the embellishment of Colonial Williamsburg by the Rockefeller family, there was a need to relocate the Hospital from its downtown site to more spacious surroundings. Dunbar Farms, which was located approximately three miles to the west, was chosen as the new site. This move was accomplished on a gradual basis and completed in 1970.  
       
       
   

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