Goldsboro in Wayne County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Cherry Hospital

Photographed By Mike Stroud, April 20, 2013

1. Cherry Hospital Marker

Inscription. Opened by state in 1880 for black citizens with mental illness. Named in 1959 for R. Gregg Cherry, governor, 1945-49. Open to all races since 1965.

Erected 2001 by Division of Archives and History. (Marker Number F-61.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Science & Medicine. In addition, it is included in the North Carolina Division of Archives and History series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1880.

Location. 35° 23.712′ N, 78° 1.837′ W. Marker is in Goldsboro, North Carolina, in Wayne County. Marker is on Old Smithfield Road (State Highway 581) half a mile north of West Ash Street /Stevens Mill Road, on the left when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Goldsboro NC 27530, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Waynesborough (approx. 1.8 miles away); Foster's Raid (approx. 1.9 miles away); General Baptist State Convention (approx. 1.9 miles away); Kenneth C. Royall (approx. 2 miles away); Gertrude Weil (approx. 2 miles away); Sherman's March (approx. 2 miles away); North Carolina Railroad (approx. 2.1 miles away); John Lawson (approx. 2.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Goldsboro.

Regarding Cherry Hospital.

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Mental health care in North Carolina can be traced to Dorothea Dix’s appeals to the legislature in 1848 and the opening in 1856 of the hospital in Raleigh that bears her name. Extension of that work led to the creation of what is now Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro in 1880 and present Broughton Hospital in Morganton in 1883. Prior to the opening of the latter institutions the state paid counties $100 annually per individual for care of the mentally ill. In 1874 Marine Hospital in Wilmington was temporarily designated as the site for care of black citizens with mental problems; others were housed in Raleigh, Tarboro, and Goldsboro.
In 1878 the state purchased from William T. Dortch 171 acres two miles west of Goldsboro for a hospital to serve “exclusively for the accommodation, maintenance, care, and treatment of the colored insane of the state.” The site was selected in part because it was near the center of the state’s black population. For eighty-five years the hospital served the black citizens of all 100 counties. Originally known as the “Asylum for the Colored Insane,” the institution enrolled its first patient on August 1, 1880. The first superintendent, Dr. William Moore, answered to a board of nine directors.
The institution’s name was changed to the Eastern North Carolina Insane Asylum, then to the State Hospital at Goldsboro, and in 1959 to Cherry Hospital

Cherry Hospital and Marker looking north along Old Smithfield Road image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, April 20, 2013

2. Cherry Hospital and Marker looking north along Old Smithfield Road

to honor R. Gregg Cherry, governor of North Carolina from 1945 to 1949. A commission study in 1937 sharply criticized care at the mental hospitals in the state. Most of the older buildings, including one designed by A. G. Bauer, were replaced in the 1930s and 1940s. The hospital remained segregated until 1965 when, to comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the state’s mental institutions were integrated. Cherry Hospital was designated to serve all races in thirty-three eastern North Carolina counties. Some black patients were transferred to other hospitals and whites were moved into Cherry. (North Carolina Office of Archives & History — Department of Cultural Resources)

Cherry Hospital Marker, looking south on Old Smithfield Road image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, April 20, 2013

3. Cherry Hospital Marker, looking south on Old Smithfield Road

Cherry Hospital onetime welcome sign image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, April 20, 2013

4. Cherry Hospital onetime welcome sign

Cherry Hospital as seen today, unused and abandoned image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Mike Stroud, April 20, 2013

5. Cherry Hospital as seen today, unused and abandoned

Credits. This page was last revised on July 2, 2021. It was originally submitted on May 25, 2013, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 1,408 times since then and 157 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on May 25, 2013, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.