Allentown State Hospital

Allentown State Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located at 1600 Hanover Ave. in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It served the counties of Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Monroe, Pike, and occasionally eastern Schuylkill. It was one of seven remaining psychiatric hospitals in Pennsylvania.HistoryAllentown State Hospital was planned as early as 1901 but the opening was delayed until October 3, 1913. The hospital cost $1,931,270 to build. The population hit its peak in 1950 with 2,012 patients. In November 1998, Allentown State Hospital was the first psychiatric hospital in the United States to be completely seclusion-free. Due to current community mental health efforts, the hospital's occupancy fell to as low as 175 patients.Status and futureDue to the sharp decline in the need for psychiatric hospitals, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare has closed the hospital. Some residents have been transferred to the Wernersville State Hospital in Berks County. Others have been placed in residential-care settings within the community. The hospital closed on December 17, 2010.