The Sonoma Developmental Center is a large, state-run facility in California, United States, serving the needs of people with developmental disabilities. It is located in Eldridge in Sonoma County.
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History
It opened at its current location on November 24, 1891, though it had existed at previous locations in Vallejo and Santa Clara since 1884.
The facility's current name dates from 1986. Former names include:
- California Home for the Care and Training of Feeble Minded Children (1883)
- Sonoma State Home (1909)
- Sonoma State Hospital (1953)
History:
1883 - First home opened at White Sulphur Springs near Vallejo.
1884 - Fasking Park, Alameda County.
1885-1891 - The Home was located in Santa Clara, California, near the intersection of Market and Washington Street.
1891 - A new site for the Home was purchased from former State Senator William Hill for $51,000. Two railroads ran through the site until World War II. The superintendent was Dr. Antrim Edgar Osborn.
Superintendents
1891- Antrim Edgar Osborn, M.D.
1900 - William. P. Lawlor, M.D.
1903 - W. J. G. Dawson, M.D.
1919 - Frederick Otis Butler, M.D.
1949 -
1918 - A Spanish influenza epidemic killed dozens of inmates. Dr. Lawlor was also killed.
The Home had primarily four types of residents: the mentally handicapped, the epileptic, the physically disabled, and the "psychopathic delinquent." From almost the start, the Home was overcrowded.
2000 - Main building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Hospitals In Sonoma County Video
Research Resources
The State Archive in Sacramento have extensive holdings on the early history of the Home. Including patient registers, photographs, maps, and records. The Gosney Archive at Caltech in Pasadena, CA contains information about sterilization from the 1920s. The SDC does have some historical resources, but these are not open to the general public.
Scholarly
Fictional Works
- The Center provided the setting for Jack London's short story "Told in the Drooling Ward" (1914).
- The book In All Things: A Return to the Drooling Ward is a fictionalized account based on the author's experiences while training as a psychiatric technician at the former hospital.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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