Old Main – New York State Lunatic Asylum

by Dennis Webster
Old Main, the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, opened in 1843. It was the first asylum in NYS and the second in the United States. Dr. Amariah Brigham was the first superintendent and brought his “moral treatment” to the asylum. People with mental illness would be rescued from a life of chains confinement, and isolation to come to Utica. They would work on the asylum farm, print shop, garden, among other occupations. Old Main closed on September 28, 1978. The building, with its iconic Greek Doric columns, was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.