As the facility soon became overcrowded, superintendent Merrick Bemis called for the construction of a new asylum.

A massive structure was to be laid out in the Kirkbride Plan and located on Belmont Street.

Construction began in 1870 and the newly built Worcester State Hospital was completed in 1876 at the cost of well over a million dollars.

The wards were named after places in Massachusetts as well as numerous founders of the American Psychiatric Association, such as Howe, Appleton, Woodward, Gage, Hooper, Folsom, and Thayer.

Designed by Ellenzweig Associates the new facility is 428,000 square feet and LEED Gold Certified.

In 2015, the salvaged clock tower was transformed into a memorial, dedicated to the original Kirkbride building and the effect Worcester had on American Psychiatry.