Historical Marker

Lakeland Asylum

Historical marker location:
Louisville, Kentucky
( 2201 Lakeland Rd., Louisville)

In 1873, the fourth Kentucky state mental hospital was established here. From a single brick building housing 370 patients, grew a campus of 15 buildings and 5000 patients, including a working farm & orchards. Buildings constructed in Tudor and Classical Revival styles and exemplified exceptional institutional architecture of the day.

<h5>Reverse</h5>Daily routine of patients began with medication, followed by the men working on the farm & grounds, while the women worked in the kitchen, laundry & as seamstresses. With fewer patients and buildings in disrepair, a new facility was built in 1986. The old campus was demolished in 1996. Site is now on E. P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park.

The first successful gold rush in the United States occurred in 1806 in Kentucky. The gold was found in the sand and gravel of the Ohio River and its tributaries.