The Greek Revival structure was designed by Captain William Clarke and its construction was funded by the state and by contributions from Utica residents.

[11] Some of the asylum inmates also printed a newspaper, called The Opal (10 volumes, 1851–1860), which contained articles, poems, and drawings produced by the patients.

William Spiers, a convicted arsonist, former patient, and sporadic employee, was arrested after admitting to setting both fires because he was angry with his supervisor.

[14] A Secret Institution (1890), a 19th-century autobiographical narrative, describes Clarissa Caldwell Lathrop's institutionalization at the asylum for voicing suspicions that someone was trying to poison her.

[3] Brigham disliked the then-current practice of using chains to restrain patients, and invented the "Utica crib" as an alternative.

The Utica crib was an ordinary bed with a thick mattress on the bottom, slats on the sides, and a hinged top that could be locked from the outside.

One patient who had slept in the Utica crib for several days commented that he had rested better and found it useful for "all crazy fellows as I, whose spirit is willing, but whose flesh is weak".

[16] In the Edinburgh Medical Journal (February 1878), Dr. Lindsay and other physicians at the Murray Royal Institution at Perth recommended the Utica crib.

[17] Some of these deaths occurred when attendants thought the patients were out of control when, in fact, they were having a heart attack, a stroke, or some other type of serious health problem.