The Public Hospital

The Public Hospital is at 326 W. Francis St. at the Colonial Williamsburg Historic Area, off I-64 exit 238. This building was reconstructed on the original site of the Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds. Opened in 1773, it was the first public institution in the English Colonies devoted solely to the treatment of mental illness. An exhibit on the first floor focuses on the history of the hospital.

Other subjects addressed are the underlying reasons for the facility’s establishment, its doctors, patients and methods of treatment.