St. Elizabeths Hospital

Established in 1855, St. Elizabeths Hospital was the first and only federal mental facility for treatment of the mentally ill. Dorothea Dix, who was responsible for establishing the hospital, defined St. Elizabeths’ mission as the provision of the “most humane care and enlightened curative treatment of the insane.”

Since the first patient was admitted in 1855, St. Elizabeths has served the local and national community by providing care to the District of Columbia as well as members of the military who served their country in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World Wars I and II. In 1987, the federal government transferred the hospital operations to the District’s Department of Mental Health and is continuing to provide the most humane care and advanced treatment to patients.