Foxborough State Hospital

Foxborough State Hospital is a campus of red brick wards, support buildings and staff housing on Chestnut Street in Foxborough, Massachusetts. It began in 1889 as the Massachusetts Hospital for Dipsomaniacs and Inebriates, said to be the first state-run facility of its kind in the nation. The trustees chose the cottage plan, and Brigham & Spofford designed the earliest Queen Anne buildings, trimmed with terra-cotta. In 1914 the alcoholic patients moved to Norfolk, and the site became a standard state hospital. A 1915 plan by James E. McLaughlin, later joined by Houston Burr, linked the original wards and added an administration building and Classical Revival wards. Staff cottages, an assembly hall and other buildings followed through the 1930s. Landscape architect Joseph H. Curtis improved the grounds in 1895. The campus has changed little since about 1935, though deferred maintenance threatens the original wards. It was recognized for its role in treating alcoholism, its link to the state mental health system, and its architecture.