As early as 1890, a movement was begun to build a fourth mental hospital in the state and northwest Iowa was the logical location for it.

Many other northwest Iowa towns also vied for the hospital, including Sheldon, LeMars, Fort Dodge, Storm Lake and "Pocahontas Center."

The legislature appropriated $12,000 to purchase a site, but it was six and a half years after the first excavation before the administration building, sitting on bare prairie land, was ready for occupancy.

These patients were brought by special trains and met with teams and hayracks at the end of the Illinois Central Railroad spur and transported to the hospital.

With the discovery of psychotropic drugs in the 1950s, the push for getting rid of restraints, community-based services and the establishment of Mental Health Centers in the 1960s, the massive asylum census continued its decline.

Today, the average daily census is approximately 44 patients as the emphasis for community-based services increases and lengths of stay shorten due to medical advances and psychosocial rehabilitation.