Institutional
History
During
the nineteenth century, epileptics were often institutionalized
in homes for the feeble-minded or insane asylums. As early as the
1860s, however, physicians at the State Lunatic Asylum in Trenton,
New Jersey, had noted that housing those suffering from epilepsy
with the insane had a deleterious effect on both. In 1877, and again
in 1884, Dr. John W. Ward, superintendent of the State Asylum in
Trenton, unsuccessfully lobbied the New Jersey State Legislature
for funds to open a separate building for epileptics. Between 1888
and 1895, Professor S. Olin Garrison, founder and principal of the
New Jersey Training School for the Feeble-minded in Vineland, also
devoted much time advocating separate facilities for epileptics.
Finally in 1895, the New Jersey State Legislature established a
commission to investigate the condition of epileptics in New Jersey
(P.L. 1895, Joint Resolution No. 1, p. 855). While the commission's
1896 report convinced the legislature of the need to establish a
specialized institution for treatment of this disease, the resulting
bill was vetoed by Governor John W. Griggs. Two years later, however,
legislation establishing the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics
was signed into law by Acting Governor Foster M. Voorhees (P.L.
1898, chap. 113, p. 185).
The 1898 act entrusted the organization of the Village to a board
of six managers appointed by the governor. The first board members
were Rev. James M. Buckley, Prof. S. Olin Garrison, and Drs. William
S. Coombs, John H. Ewing, Thomas J. Smith, and John W. Ward. Their
first order of business was to find an appropriate location for
the Village. After searching several months, they purchased adjacent
farms in Montgomery Township, Somerset County, containing a total
of 402 acres of land. In October 1898, the board hired Dr. Henry
M. Weeks, a pathologist and assistant physician at the New Jersey
State Hospital in Trenton, as the Village's first Superintendent.
They officially opened the Village on 1 November 1898.
During the early years of the Village, the managers and Dr. Weeks
devoted most of their time and limited resources to making the Village
physically viable. Roads, sewers, power plants and additional buildings
for patients and administrative offices were constructed, and electricity
was brought in; livestock and farming equipment were purchased.
The goal was to establish a self-sufficient, agrarian-based community
maintained by both patients and employees. Here the staff would
provide scientific treatment and care to residents, while the residents
would learn domestic, agricultural, and industrial skills that would
help maintain the Village.
Funding initially came solely through legislative appropriations
and fees paid by private patients. In 1902, legislation was passed
which allowed the admission of indigent epileptics by order the
county Courts of Common Pleas. Under this law, the county would
make payment to the Village for each patient it had sent (P.L. 1902,
chap. 85, p.249). Additional funds were eventually raised through
the sale of goods raised on the Village's farms.
In 1918, responsibility for the Village was given to the newly established
Department of Charities and Corrections (P.L. 1918, chap. 147, p.
343), which was renamed the Department of Institutions and Agencies
the following year (P.L. 1919, chap. 97, p. 222). At this time,
the Village had over 700 patients and covered over 1,000 acres of
land.
It appears that throughout the history of the Village, its managers
and supervisors strived to make their ideal of a self-sufficient
community a reality. Children attended the Village school while
adult residents assisted with the general upkeep of the facilities,
learning skills such as carpentry, plumbing, sewing, and housekeeping.
Patients also worked on the Village farm, which grew vegetables,
fruit, wheat and hay, and kept livestock including dairy cows, pigs
and chickens. There were regular social events as well: plays, concerts,
dances and agricultural fairs. Many residents, however, because
of physical or mental conditions, were incapable of participating
in these functions and were simply patients in the Village hospital,
which was opened in 1913.
The State Village also served as a center for research on epilepsy.
In cooperation with other institutions, the Village medical staff
conducted studies to determine the possible causes of the disease
and tried various therapies, focusing mainly on diet and nutrition.
Eventually, drug therapies were developed which more effectively
controlled seizures.
According to Walter C. Baker, author of A History of the New Jersey
State Village for Epileptics, the gradual decline and closing of
the Village had several causes. The depression of the 1930s resulted
in severe cutbacks in funding of the Village; this led in turn to
cramped housing and deterioration of the facilities resulting from
deferred maintenance. The era of World War II also brought about
a shortage of qualified workers: high-paying war work was more attractive
than the low wages of the Village. And, as epilepsy became better
understood and more treatable, it became increasingly apparent that
it was neither necessary or desirable to isolate those suffering
from the disease. Due to these and other factors, the state decided
to phase out the program and use the Village for other purposes.
To this end, Dr. Robert S. Garber was appointed superintendent of
the Village in 1952. Under Dr. Garber's guidance, sixty percent
of the Village's epileptic patients were re-evaluated and either
sent back into their communities or transferred to other state facilities.
In 1953, the State Legislature formally abolished the Village and
replaced it with the New Jersey Neuro-Psychiatric Institute (P.L.
1953, chap. 122, p. 1307). The Institute took over the Village's
lands and facilities, and those serving as board members of the
Village for Epileptics continued as members of the board of the
Institute until their terms expired. |
