Stockton State Hospital

Stockton State Hospital or the Stockton Developmental Center was California's first psychiatric hospital. It was built in 1853 in Stockton, California. It was constructed as the Insane Asylum of California at Stockton in 1853. It was on 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land donated by Captain Charles Maria Weber. The legislature at the time felt that existing hospitals were incapable of caring for the large numbers of people who suffered from mental and emotional conditions as a result of the California Gold Rush, and authorized the creation of the first public mental health hospital in California.