Northern State Hospital
Northern State Hospital is a historic psychiatric campus in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. Opened in 1912 to ease overcrowding at Western State Hospital, it closed in 1973 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The campus sits about 4 miles northeast of Sedro-Woolley, near Washington State Route 20.
The hospital was built after plans by Seattle architects Saunders and Lawton in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, with landscape work by the Olmsted Brothers. It began with 100 male patients transferred from Western State, and local residents helped with construction. In 1913 additional ward buildings were added, and by 1915 the hospital held about 485 patients. From 1917 onward the facility expanded to accommodate more people, with new wards, a power plant, and improved heating and lighting. By 1917 the hospital had around 750 patients and 70 staff, a ratio of 16 patients per attendant. By 1922 the population reportedly reached over 1,000.
In 1973 the hospital was closed by state budget cuts. The last patients left on August 16, 1973, and about 500 staff lost their jobs. Remaining patients were moved to Western State Hospital or released.
Northern State Hospital has a history of controversy. In 1921 a patient killed a hospital attendant, and there were complaints of abuse, overcrowding, and “redlighting” (patient dumping). There were other violent incidents, including a 1922 murder and a 1928 death after an assault by an attendant. In the 1980s and 1990s, remains and evidence from the site drew public attention: in 1981 remains from a chemical dump were found nearby; in 1983 food cans containing cremated remains of patients were discovered and later buried in local cemeteries. A 1995 government study revealed radiation experiments on patients at the hospital between 1954 and 1958, involving Iron-55 injections to some patients.
Today parts of the campus are used by the Cascades Job Corps College and Career Academy, and some buildings are still standing as a reminder of the hospital’s past. A cemetery on the grounds contains the graves of many former patients; a memorial plaque honors the 1,487 people interred there, most of whom have little to identify them. The site remains a history lesson about early 20th-century mental health care and its difficult legacy.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 03:42 (CET).