Central State Hospital

also referred to as Anchorage Asylum or Lakeland

Cemetery Burials

1880 Census Listing

News Article

Court Orders

Related Links

 

Central State Hospital Genealogy

10510 LaGrange Rd, Louisville, Kentucky 40223
502-253-7000

Herein lies an attempt to catalog the names of the persons who resided, and possibly, buried on the grounds of Central State Asylum.   It is requested that those who have found this institution's name listed on any family death certificate (s) to send an email so as to acquire a complete listing of persons who lived or might have been buried here and the approximate timeframe.   Please just send a quick line to your county coordinator giving the information known to you.  It will be added to the cemetery listing.

At one time, the grounds of Central State Hospital included a much more expansive area and was a farm, and included the land of present day Tom Sawyer State Park and beyond.

 

An overview of the current grounds from Google maps.   The photos on this page were found in "The Village of Anchorage" by Samuel W. Thomas.

 

 

It is possible for a direct descendant of the Old Kentucky State Hospital patient to be appointed administrator of that person's estate for purposes of accessing existing records. There is a court cost of $52.00.

 

 

State Government Listing - Cabinet for Health & Family Services http://mhmr.ky.gov/Facilities/

 

 

Lake at back of grounds - where the name, Lakeland, was derived.

 
 

"Lakeland Asylum" was actually the Central Kentucky Asylum for the Insane. Built in 1869 in Anchorage, it initially housed juvenile delinquents and was called the Home for Juvenile Delinquents at Lakeland. In 1873, it became a lunatic asylum and was renamed the Central Kentucky Lunatic Asylum. By the time "The Little Colonel's Knight Comes Riding" was published (1907), the name had been changed to the Central Kentucky Asylum for the Insane. The facility cared for patients with psychiatric disorders, mental retardation and brain damage and was located next to where Louisville's E. P. Tom Sawyer Park stands today. The original building shown in the post card above was bulldozed in 1996.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, escaped lunatics were an every day hazard of life in Pewee (Lloydsboro) Valley. The Central Kentucky Lunatic Asylum was located only a few miles outside the city limits and inmate escapes occurred with some frequency. - excerpted from the Little Colonel website.

Central State Hospital is a 192-bed adult psychiatric hospital located in eastern Jefferson County, Kentucky, near Louisville. In 1869, land was bought from the Hite family, from the same original grant that would become nearby Anchorage, Kentucky. Though it initially housed juvenile delinquents, it 1873 it was converted into the state's fourth lunatic asylum, and renamed Central Kentucky Lunatic Asylum. By 1900 it was renamed Central Kentucky Asylum for the Insane.

The secluded, rural setting was typical for such facilities in the late 19th century, as such an environment was thought to be beneficial for recovery from mental illness. However, not all patients had mental disorders, some suffered from brain damage, mental retardation or were simply poor or elderly. Though built for 1,600 patients, by 1940 there were 2,400. However, starting in the 1950s, changing community perception of the mentally disturbed, as well as the development of effective psychiatric medications, lead to fewer patients staying permanently in mental hospitals, and the average stay at the facility was two weeks by the 1990s.

In 1986 a new facility was completed on the original grounds, and the old buildings were razed. Though it flirted with privatization in the 1970s, it is publicly operated today......

.......The land that is now Anchorage was a part of Isaac Hite's 1773 land grant, which awarded most of the land in today's Jefferson County to officers in the Virginia militia, in exchange for their service in the French and Indian War. Early maps refer to the area as Hite's Mill. Part of his original grant now makes up the grounds of Central State Hospital and E. P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park. - Wikipedia listing

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