East+Moline's+Last+Castle

Original Author: Christopher Ebalo, ENG340 FL11
 * East Moline’s Last Castle **

In May of 1895, the state of Illinois finalized legislation that approved the building and requisite funding for a state mental institution in northwestern Illinois (Belan, 211). The creation of such a facility would undoubtedly create new jobs and generate new revenue for a growing community. However, Rock Island County officials were apprehensive about taking on such an immense project. For example, the bill called for a site of approximately 240 acres and, preferably, pre-established infrastructure (roads, buildings, etc.) (211). The push for approval for the Watertown (an area of East Moline just west of Hampton) site was facilitated by Edward Guyer, a close friend of Charles Deere (the son of John Deere). Using Deere’s political pull and status in society, Guyer formed a small local committee to travel to Springfield to promote East Moline as a viable site (211). Upon leaving Springfield, Guyer returned to East Moline and, with the aid of Emil Heimbeck (a photographer from Moline), photographed the extensive land that overlooked the Mississippi River. Daniel McNeal, the owner of the land, agreed to sell the property after Guyer made his proposal to purchase the land to finalize the deal (211).

Other sites were also in consideration for the construction of the hospital. The other sites in contention were in Galesburg and Monmouth, but ultimately the bid was awarded to Rock Island County, despite the fact that their $30,000 offer was half of what Monmouth had proposed (212). The primary reason behind Rock Island County winning the bid was due to the fact that they could offer a site on the Mississippi “where water power will serve to pump the water into reservoirs and lagoons, to run electric light plants, to operate machinery…” (212). T.J. Medill (the former mayor of Rock Island and acting member of the board of trustees who were assigned to settle financing for the project) is often credited as the individual who closed the deal in December of 1895 that officially brought the institution to Rock Island County (212-213). The hospital was originally named the Western Illinois Hospital for the Insane.

The news of the construction of the hospital was welcomed by local residents and store owners in the area. Profits soared as local housing, food, and supplies were in high demand from the masses of construction workers brought in to build the massive structure. Although the state of Illinois had required 240 acres, the final property size ended up being a little over 383 acres (the largest portion coming from Daniel McNeal) (213). Construction began in May of 1896, with the design plan of architect Lewis M. Curry. The design would feature “a series of two-story buildings in the form of a Maltese Cross, the central portion being the administration building, three stories in height, surmounted by a 100-foot tower, and connected with all the wings by corridors” (213). The hospital was built in the Gothic-style with Berea sandstone, with the main administration building closely resembling a castle-like structure.

Dr. Warren E. Taylor, the former mayor of Monmouth, would become the first superintendent at the Western Illinois Hospital for the Insane (214). He would be credited with finding a solution to the problem of finding a suitable water supply. By connecting a well in the central building to a location approximately forty feet below the floor of the Mississippi River, Taylor was able to establish an endless supply of water (214). This not only provided the institution with a sustainable supply of water, but also would be crucial for maintaining the farmland. Dr. Taylor was a strong advocate and practitioner of homeopathic medicine, with a special emphasis on the hospital farm as a means of treatment. The farm allowed patients to exhibit poultry and produce, as well as harvest their own crops (214). At the Watertown Fair of 1908, patients were permitted to sell their produce, canned goods, needlework, and handcrafted items to the general public (217). Dr. Taylor was certainly not the first physician to implement the idea of horticultural therapy as a type of treatment at a state institution. Opening in 1817, the Friends Asylum of the Insane in Philadelphia introduced patients to gardening and planting fruit trees (Relf, 314). In 1878, the Pontiac State Hospital in Michigan also implemented farming as a form of treatment, utilizing approximately 300 acres of farmland (314). Several physicians during this time period supported such methods of treatment. Dr. Relf quotes Dr. Karl Menninger (founder of the Menninger Clinic and Menninger Sanitarium) as describing the activity of horticultural therapy as one that “bring the individual close to the soil and close to Mother Nature, close to beauty, close to the inscrutable mystery of growth and development” (315). Today, the ideas of horticultural therapy are still relevant. For example, a 1990 interdisciplinary symposium, //The Role of Horticulture in Human Well-Being and Social Development//,led to the creation of the People–Plant Council (PPC) (317). The PPC has since held a biennial multi-day symposium with the intent to provide a forum on topics for researchers and practitioners in this field of study (317).

Dr. Taylor used his time as the chief physician of the Western Illinois Hospital for the Insane to refine his skills as a farmer. He closely studied crop cultivation and agriculture while at the hospital farm, allowing him to share new techniques with local farmers. He was viewed by many as the area’s expert on soil analysis, parlaying it into a career with John Deere & Company beginning in 1909. He left the Watertown to lecture, sample soil, and test new machinery and technology for Deere on its first experimental farm in Moline (Belan 214).

As time progressed and the state gave more funding to the facility, the Western Illinois Hospital for the Insane expanded. In February of 1901, the state legislature was so impressed with how the facility was running that it approved the construction of four new buildings, which included an all-male dormitory, a society hall (which included a stage for theatrical productions), a parole ward, and a laundry building (216). The hospital continued to get favorable reviews from the state, which allowed additional funds to be allotted toward the institution. This included an amusement hall for the patients being added in 1905 (217). The hospital would not be immune from the renaming process, the first instance occurring in 1917, under the new name of the Moline State Hospital, must to the chagrin of East Moline residents (219). In 1927, in a move to placate the indignant East Moline community, the facility was renamed the East Moline State Hospital (219). In the mid-1930s the facility would undergo its final name change, taking the name East Moline Mental Health Center. One of the last major additions to the state hospital was the chapel in 1964, which cost $300,000 to build (219). It was divided into separate chapels within the main structure, housing service areas for Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish services (219).

On May 3, 1979, it was reported that Illinois Governor James Thompson had called for the closing of the East Moline Mental Health Center (219). Some patients and employees from the East Moline hospital would be transferred to the Galesburg Mental Health Center (219). The State Department of Corrections would appropriate approximately $4.3 million toward the conversion of the hospital to the correctional facility (219). Although some of the buildings would remain for the prison, the trademark Gothic “castle” would be torn down to create parking areas and outdoor recreation areas. The Department of Corrections would divide the facility into two different institutions/ the prison was named the East Moline Correctional Center (EMCC) and the work-release center was named the East Moline Community Correctional Center (EMCCC) (219-220). The East Moline Correctional Center grew at an exponential rate, housing over 1,100 inmates as of June 2001 (220). At full capacity, the facility is designed to house 660 inmates (220).

East Moline’s last castle stood for nearly a century. Although the East Moline Mental Health Center no longer remains, it left an indelible mark on not only the East Moline community, but the entire Quad-Cities area.


 * Works Cited **

Belan, Judy. East Moline: //A Centennial History, 1903-2003//. East Moline, IL: City of East Moline, 2004. Print.

"Illinois Western Hospital for the Insane." Historic Rock Island County History of the Settlement of Rock Island County from the Earliest Known Period to the Present Time: Embracing References of Importance, and including a Biography of Rock Island County's Well-known Citizens. Rock Island, IL: Kramer &, 1908. 179-81. 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 27 Oct. 2011. .

Relf, Paula Diane. "Agriculture and Health Care The Care of Plants and Animals for Therapy and Rehabilitation in the United States." //Farming for Health: Green-care Farming across Europe and the United States of America//. Ed. Jan Hassink & Majken van Dijk. Dordrecht: Springer, 2006. 311-43. Print.

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