Grafton State Hospital: This is a closed facility. Cemetery associated with Grafton State Hospital is located on Green Street, across from the Federal Jobs Program building. It is called Hillcrest Cemetery and there are 1,041 former DMH clients buried there. Numbers on a 12-inch stone marks the graves. There is a complete list of names and corresponding grave numbers for this cemetery somewhere. It is approximately 3 acres in size.
Arthur N. Phelon, 85, of Rockport, MA died February 10, 1996 at Greenery Extended Care Center in Danvers. He worked as head farmer at Worcester State Hospital for many years and later, as head farmer at Grafton State Hospital, retiring after 25 years of service. He was an active Stockbridge alumnus, serving as president of the Alumni Board of Directors for 2 terms. During WWII, he worked at Smith and Wesson testing guns. He was very interested in conservation, and was one of the originators of Earth Day. Besides his wife Helen, he leaves a son, a brother, a sister and 3 grandchildren.
Milton A. TEMPLE was born on 8 Jun 1867 in Hopkinton, Middlesex, MA. He appeared on the census in Jan 1920 in Grafton, Worcester, MA. He was patient in Grafton State Hospital in Jan 1920 in Grafton, Worcester, MA. He died on 29 Aug 1930 in Grafton, Worcester, MA. Unmarried.
Did you know that prior to 1960 it was common for physicians and psychologists at state hospitals to be assigned help-patients who acted as personal servants in charge of house cleaning, gardening, laundry, and cooking?
Did you know that in 1995-97 at least four major books on the history of mental health care in America have been written and not one contains first hand accounts from ex-patients?
Did you know that the federal government established the fully segregated Canton Indian Insane Asylum in South Dakota in 1902 and that the town of Canton has since built the Hiawatha Municipal Golf Course around the graves of 121 former inmates?
Did you know that only one type of mental illness was thought to exist in American slaves? It was called Drapetomania and was defined as the inexplicable urge of a slave to run away!
Did you know that there are people who still remember what it was like to be a patient at a state hospital in the 1930's? They remember working on the hospital farms, the experience of malarial treatments, wet packs, Metrazol shock, insulin coma therapy and how (or if) things changed with the introduction of Thorazine in the 1950's. When our elders pass on, their stories will be lost forever.
Did you know that Central State Hospital in Virginia was established in 1869 exclusively for "colored insane"?
Ralph Chester Keith was the fourth child born to Clayton & Eva. He was born on 07 Nov 1906, in the Keith farmhouse in Sutton, MA. His birth is recorded in the Town of Sutton, MA, and in the Family Bible. This picture of Ralph is a detail taken from his wedding photo. Ralph grew up in Sutton and attended grammar school there. Ralph worked as a truck driver at the Grafton State Hospital in No. Grafton, Worcester Co., MA.
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