[4] This overcrowding caused monetary trouble for the hospital, compounded by the state procedure to pay for one patient per 1,000 population.

[4] Patient therapy was widely varied and saw a great deal of new techniques implemented in the 1920s and 1930s under superintendent Dr. Edwin W. Cocke.

Additionally, a new operating room was opened, a telephone system was installed, the kitchen was modernized, x-ray equipment was purchased, and a dentist and dietician were hired.

[4] Due to segregationist policies in the area, a separate, two-story ward was built for African American patients, finishing construction in 1896.

The advent of modern psychotropic medications and outlawing of unpaid patient labor aided in combating the overcrowding at Western State.

With a staff of 650 and an annual budget of approximately $35 million, Western State is the largest employer in Hardeman County.

This article about a property in Hardeman County, Tennessee on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub.