Agnews Historic Park in Santa Clara in Santa Clara County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)

Agnews Development Center

Built as Agnews State Hospital

— 1888-1988 —

Agnews Development Center Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Joseph Alvarado, April 5, 2023

1. Agnews Development Center Marker

Inscription. Agnews Main Building, a 5-story, red brick edifice, completed in 1888, was known as “The Great Asylum for the Insane”. The name Agnews came from nearby landowner, Abram Agnew.

The 1906 Earthquake leveled the 1888 structures. The present clocktower and surrounding buildings, designed in Mediterranean Revival style, were erected in 1908 by the State of California. Dr. Leonard Stocking, hospital superintendent, helped design the new facility.

Services for the mentally ill stopped in 1972. Agnews now provides support for developmentally disabled individuals.

Erected 1988 by City of Santa Clara Historical and Landmarks Commission.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Disasters • Science & Medicine. A significant historical year for this entry is 1908.

Location. 37° 23.615′ N, 121° 57.216′ W. Marker is in Santa Clara, California, in Santa Clara County. It is in Agnews Historic Park. It is on George Sellon Circle east of Palm Drive, on the right when traveling north. The plaque is mounted on the wall to the left of the front door. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 4040 George Sellon Circle, Santa Clara CA 95054, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in California’s San Francisco Bay Area,

in Silicon Valley,

and on the Coast Ranges.

It is also on the American Pacific Coast.

Globally, it is in North America,

on the Ring of Fire,

in the Pacific Rim,

in the Western Hemisphere,

in the Western World,

and in the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain

and also Mexico’s Alta California.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker:

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Clocktower Building (a few steps from this marker); Administration Building (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Auditorium (about 400 feet away); Early History of Agnews (about 500 feet away); Agnews Today: The Legacy (about 500 feet away); Life at Agnews: Change Over a Century (about 500 feet away); Agnews: A Century of Service (about 500 feet away); Recent History of Agnews (about 600 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Santa Clara.

More about this marker. This is also known as Oracle Building 4.

Also see . . .
1. Looking Back: Agnews State Hospital. San Jose Public Library

"The hospital is most famously known as the site of the greatest loss of life in Santa Clara County after the 1906 earthquake. Eleven officials and over one-hundred patients were crushed when the main treatment building collapsed. But the history of Agnews is more interesting than this grim memory."

(Submitted on April 12, 2023, by Joseph Alvarado of Livermore, California.)

2. Agnews Insane Asylum. National Park Service

"The treatment of the insane in California dates from the earliest days of the Gold Rush. The first provisions for the insane were to lock them up with criminals in the ship Ephemia,
Photographed by Joseph Alvarado, April 5, 2023

2. Agnews Development Center Marker
purchased in 1849 by the City of San Francisco, and later to house them at the San Francisco marine hospital in 1850, used primarily for ailing seamen. In 1885 the Agnews Residential Facility was established by the California State Legislature as a neuropsychiatric institution for the care and treatment of the mentally ill."

(Submitted on April 12, 2023, by Joseph Alvarado of Livermore, California.)

Agnews Clocktower Building image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Joseph Alvarado, April 5, 2023

3. Agnews Clocktower Building

Agnews Insane Asylum After 1906 Earthquake image. Click for full size.

4. Agnews Insane Asylum After 1906 Earthquake

Agnews Campus Map image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Joseph Alvarado, April 5, 2023

5. Agnews Campus Map

At the visitors center.

Credits. This page was last revised on April 14, 2023. It was originally submitted on April 12, 2023, by Joseph Alvarado of Livermore, California. This page has been viewed 736 times since then and 97 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on April 12, 2023, by Joseph Alvarado of Livermore, California. 5. submitted on April 14, 2023, by Joseph Alvarado of Livermore, California.