This closure will re-route remaining civil psychiatric beds north to Danville State Hospital in Montour County, Pennsylvania.

Situated on two hundred and sixty-five acres, the original design of the hospital was similar to the Kirkbride plan with echelons on both sides of the central administration building with two-story ward-buildings with two wards on each floor connected by covered passageways.

The following year the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania allocated funds for the construction of several new structures to reduce the strain the hospitals staff and open up new beds for the growing demands of the population.

Small hand-crafted items such as: wicker baskets, rugs, leather products, and fiber mats all sold locally for the benefit of the hospital.

[10] In 1998, Haverford State Hospital was closed and the inpatient population was transferred to Norristown in an attempt to consolidate the resources of the Department of Human Services.

[15][16] Prior to her appointment as Chief Physician, and the completion of her medical education, Dr. Bennett had joined with other clinicians to help found the National Conference of Charities and Correction in 1874.

[19] As a matter of therapeutic modality, Dr. Bennett offered a variety of treatments for addressing the ailments of her patients, including: diet, bathing, topical blood letting, stimulants (alcohol), digitalis, opium, chloral, ergot, tonics, and potassium bromide.

The future superintendent Arthur Percy Noyes published the first edition of his sentinel medical text 'Modern Clinical Psychiatry' in the spring of 1936, outlining the common practice of psychiatric interviews and the collection of relevant psycho-historical data.

[28] He had previously been vocal about the need for internal reform to the state hospital system,[29] looking to divert patients to lower levels of care to reduce the strain on the commonwealth's limited resources.

Across from a neighborhood of bungalows and rowhouses along the Norristown-West Norriton border, Norristown State Hospital currently occupies 225 acres, and has roughly thirty surviving buildings in varying conditions.

Various community advocacy groups have protested the closure of this hospital, citing that behavioral healthcare services are already underfunded and that many patients are unable to survive outside of the structure of an institutional setting.

Local groups have since voiced their concerns that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is sacrificing patient welfare for a slight financial advantage in the state budget.

[36][37] In an effort to utilize some of the structures currently on the grounds of the hospital, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has granted leases to several social service agencies for the use of derelict buildings.

Currently, Resources for Human Development run the CHOC program on the grounds,[38] which is a long-term homeless shelter for the various residents of Montgomery County.

[47] There is no explicit attempt to delay or stop the closure of the civil unit, nor is there any effort to preserve the tattered remnants of the original 1880 hospital complex.

This remained to be the case with Norristown State Hospital until 1923, when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania reversed this decision, integrating the wards for both men and women.

Several scenes of the alleged psychiatric facility in Baltimore were in fact defunct state hospital buildings that had recently been retired from clinical use.

Also, a fake security gatehouse for the film was setup at Gate #4 near Sterigere Street for about two weeks, much to the annoyance of hospital employees, who were blocked from using this entrance.

President George Washington briefly resided on the grounds of the future site of the state hospital in 1778[68] while on campaign against the British Army.