[2] The Winnebago State Hospital was one of several 19th-century psychiatric hospitals in the United States built on the Kirkbride Plan, a style of mental asylum design advocated by Philadelphia psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride in the mid-19th century.

John Flammang Schrank, the attempted assassin of Theodore Roosevelt, was committed to the Northern Hospital for the Insane at Winnebago in November 1912.

The death of Oscar Schrader kicked off a Legislative inquiry that eventually spread to several state mental health facilities from February to July 1934.

[8] The asylum guard was acquitted by an Oshkosh jury on two manslaughter counts,[9] but he was discharged for his actions and the Legislative committee sought to compensate the widow for his death.

[8] Major construction occurred at the facility in the 1950s and 1960s and the original kirkbride plan structure was demolished incrementally during that time period.

Governor Patrick Lucey (D) urged the Legislature to close Winnebago and Democrats in the State Assembly Finance committee supported that effort.

[11] The State hospital had a cemetery located south east of the facility on Asylum point.