Click on the front door to take a "virtual tour" of the Main Building, as it appeared at the turn of the nineteenth century.

The "Old Main" was the original Building at the Spring Grove site of the Maryland Hospital for the Insane (now Spring Grove Hospital Center).  Although construction was started in 1853, the Main Building was not completed and ready for full occupancy until 1872.  However, enough of the north wing (above, right) was completed by 1861 to allow for that part of the building to serve as a military hospital during the Civil War.  The first psychiatric patients were transferred from the Baltimore location of the Maryland Hospital to the newly completed facility at Spring Grove on October 7, 1872.  The building's original capacity was 325 patients.  From the beginning, the Main Building had running water, flush toilets, gas lighting and central heating. Hot water for the radiators was piped to the building from a nearby Boiler House. Electric lights and a telephone system were added in the 1890s. (Combination gas and electric chandeliers may be seen in some pictures from the turn of the 19th Century.) Sadly, the "Old Main" was demolished in 1964, and all that's left of the original complex is the Boiler House.  The Main Building stood on the lot across the street from the current Spring Grove Administration Building, and extended north to beyond where the Jamison Building stands today. The circular lawn seen in front of the Main Building in the above picture exists today as the "island" at the center of the traffic circle near today's Administration Building on Ash Street.

Notes: All images are from the Main Building at Spring Grove Hospital Center. Most of the photographs included on the tour were believed to have been taken between 1890 and 1910, although a few are more recent.  Several images are linked to their exact original locations in the building (e.g., the superintendent's office, the lobby, and kitchen), while others may or may not be.  The "Amusement Hall," shown as a thumbnail above the floor plan, was located on an upper floor of the central section. The original Boiler House is now the north section of the Laundry Building.  It was built at the same time as the Main Building.