I send out links to Google Maps quite frequently when inviting people to meet at the office for the Entrepreneurship Program that I run. Usually I have things set up so that I see a hybrid satellite view:

As you can see, the office I work in is down at the bottom. Now the reason I cropped this image the way I did was because if you switch the view on Google Maps back to regular “map” mode, you see this:

Take a look at that top part where Brown’s athletic complex is located. Now I’ll admit I don’t hit the gym all that frequently but if I’m not mistaken, Google appears to believe that some institution known as Dexter Asylum exists in the same area which to the best of my knowledge is a parking lot at the moment. What’s up with that?

To be fair, the Google Maps satellite data is a bit old. That bright white rectangle in the complex was our swim center, but the “hyperbolic paraboloid” roof became unstable after years of poor upkeep and the building was torn down in February, 2007. Brown will be building a swanky new fitness center within the next several months in its place. That bit of information, of course, is a totally different story and does not solve the mystery of Dexter Asylum. I just thought it was interesting.

Anyway, turns out that the area that currently looks like this:

…used to look like this back in 1911:

So what was this place? According to the Rhode Island Historical Society,

The Dexter Asylum served as an institution for the care of the poor, aged and mentally ill of Providence from 1828 to 1957. The Asylum began through a bequest in the will of Ebenezer Knight Dexter (1773-1824), a wealthy citizen who had served on a town committee for poor relief. Dexter’s gift to the town, though much needed at the time, later was seen as an anachronism–a walled and isolated “poor farm” in the midst of Providence’s residential east side. Beginning in the 1920’s, city officials, developers and assorted heirs made several attempts to change the conditions of the will, and in 1957, they finally succeeded. The Dexter Asylum property was sold to Brown University.

So, mystery solved. The only remnant of Dexter today is the stone wall which runs around the property:

But wait, there’s more!

Life inside Dexter Asylum was… not particularly great. According to The City of Providence, it was something like this:

Early asylum records include hundreds of certificates of indenture, binding inmates for usually six to twelve months. From 1828 to 1844, indentures were required for inmates with no visible means of support. This British tradition of enforced servitude was common in New England and widely used for youths apprenticed to learn a trade — such as printing or blacksmithing — and for the poor. The indenture for Thomas Stanton is typical:

“This Indenture made and entered into this twenty-seventh day of August A.D. 1828 . . . Witnesseth that the said Overseer . . . does hereby set to work, and bind out to the said Gideon Palmer for the space of six months from the date hereof, Thomas Stanton, a person of colour, a minor under the age of twenty one years, now residing in said Providence, able of body, of no visible means of support, lives idly and neither uses nor exercises any ordinary or daily lawful trade of business to get his living by; during which time said Thomas shall faithfully serve the said Gideon in such employment as the said Gideon may direct in and about the house and upon the farm which he occupies and improves, and obey all his lawful commands . . . And the said Gideon does, on his part, hereby covenant . . .that he will for the work and service of the said Thomas, provide him suitable and comfortable board, lodging and clothing during the time he shall serve the said Gideon as aforesaid.” On September 2, 1828, Thomas Stanton “left without leave.”

Some of the 1828 “Rules and Regulations” provide a window into the world of the Dexter Asylum: “At the ringing of the bell, 10 minutes before each meal, everyone at work shall cease and be ready with clean hands and face; at the ringing of the second bell, to repair to the dining hall. Those not attending shall lose that meal unless they can render a satisfactory reason for their absence.” Half an hour was allotted for breakfast and supper and one hour for the midday dinner. The rules further state, “. . . those who are clamorous, quarrelsome or otherwise unruly shall be removed from the table and deprived of the next meal.”

There were strict rules against smoking in bed. Also, “No intercourse [interaction] whatever shall be allowed between the unmarried males and females of the house.” Permission was required to leave the farm, and those suspected of harboring “strong liquor or stolen property” were subject to search. The penalty for begging was three days in the asylum’s jail. The master and matron had extensive duties, such as inventories of numerous items, ringing the bell for various daily activities, and “attending to the security, proper management, and comfort of insane or deranged persons, lodged in the maniac cells. . . .” (Although probably a quarter of the patients suffered some degree of mental illness, there was no other place for them until the founding of Butler Hospital in 1847.)

While meals probably varied considerably with the season and success of crops, the food was not luxurious; as this menu from 1869 demonstrates:

Breakfasts: White bread, cheese and coffee. On rare occasions, brown or Graham bread could be substituted for white, and cold meat for the cheese.
Suppers: White bread, butter and tea. (Children received milk.) Twice a week there were treats: hasty pudding with molasses, and milk with tea.

Dinners:
Sunday: Baked beans or peas, pork, brown bread
Monday: Pork tongues or corned beef, white bread, vegetables
Tuesday: Irish stew or fish, vegetables, white bread
Wednesday: Soup, fresh meat, vegetables, white bread
Thursday: Stewed beans or peas and pork, brown bread, rice and molasses
Friday: Fresh or salt fish, potatoes, white bread
Saturday: Soup, fresh meat, vegetables, white bread