A State Hospital Farm
The Arboretum is currently composed of 224 acres of land with a long history of farming use. In the early 1800s, this area was owned by several neighboring farms.
From 1835 to 1905, the State Hospital (now Augusta Mental Health Institute) purchased and consolidated these farms.For more than a century, the hospital farm provided crops and livestock as well as occupational therapy and exercise for hospital patients.
During the 1890s as part of the belief in "moral treatment" of psychiatric patients, it was considered desirable for an institutional farm to provide one acre of land per patient. This amount of land was considered adequate to provide all patients with the opportunity for employment, which was believed to lead to cure and good health.
Over time, the farm grew to 600 acres, and for a few years in the late 1800s, the desired ratio of one acre per patient was realized. In the first half of the 20th century, the number of patients increased, peaking at approximately 1800 patients in the 1950's.
The farm land east of Hospital Street (the current site of the Arboretum) was used for crops, hay, and pasture, while the land west of Hospital Street housed the major farm buildings. However, after several years of hog cholera outbreaks, a highly infectious and often fatal swine virus, a new Piggery was built east of Hospital Street in 1896.
