E. W. H. Schenley, and their wives, for the purpose of the in-
stitution, and plans for the erection of this building were laid
before the board during the year 1850,
The first annual meeting of the board of managers under
the charter was held in the rooms of the Board of Trade April
18, 1848. The act of incorporation was submitted to the leg-
islature by the managers, and approved by the Governor.
Francis R. Shunk, March 18, 1848.
A building was erected and opened for patients in Jan-
nary, 1853, divided into medical and surgical wards, the first
president being Thomas Bakewell, who served until 1856,
when John Harper became his successor.
The legislature in 1855 appropriated $10,000 with the
understanding that insane patients should be admitted and
receive treatment of a district comprising twenty-one coun-
ties in Western Pennsylvania. The legislature on March 18,
L856, appropriated $20,000 to construct buildings to accom-
modate the insane, but a proviso in the act prevented the ex-
penditure of the appropriation for a site. Miss Dorothy Lynde
Dix, who was then at the height of her fame as a human-
itarian, was solicited to come to Pittsburgh to give her advice
for a suitable location.
During the year 1854, 52 insane patients had been under
treatment. The board now became satisfied that cases of in-
sanity could not be treated successfully in a hospital open for
the admission of other patients, therefore, a tract of land was
purchased confronting the Monongahela River, comprising
the property now occupied by the Carnegie Steel Works,
known then as the Edgar Thompson Steel Works. After the
purchase of this property it was thought inaccessible, so far
removed from Pittsburgh, that the land was sold and another
tract was purchased confronting the Ohio river at a point
eight miles west of Pittsburgh, now known as the Dixmont
station. Later on three adjoining tracts of land were bought
and the tracts united consisted of three hundred and fifty-
five acres. In honor of Miss Dix the place was named Dix-
mont, which name has been adopted for the railroad station
at this point. Miss Dix later on made her home at the in-
stitution, living there for a period of thirteen years.
The work for the erection of the new building for the care
