Upon the realization that nothing was being done to save the many valuable artifacts and records at CMHIP, Bob and Nell Mitchell secured the former Superintendent’s Residence as a depository for these items. The Mitchells then obtained National Register of Historic Places status for the residence in September of 1985, and worked nights and weekends setting up the Museum. Among our collections are the Institute’s original biennial reports beginning in 1879 and historical documents and photographs regarding the Institute’s many operations; i.e., the former dairy farm, the evolution of the various psychiatric divisions and administrative departments, the legendary underground tunnels, the 1962 geographic decentralization process, and many more. 

CMHIP opened on October 23, 1879 as the Colorado State Insane Asylum on 40 acres of land in northwest Pueblo purchased from George M. Chilcott, Colorado’s first United States senator. The Institute’s name was changed to Colorado State Hospital in 1917 and grew from 11 patients to an all-time high of over 6,100 patients in 1961. Like many state psychiatric hospitals at that time, it was a self-contained city, providing all the patients’ needs within 75 buildings on 300 acres of land on the main grounds and 5,000 acres at the dairy farm.

 

The year 1962 would transform the hospital drastically with a change in the philosophy and treatment of the mentally ill and new medications specifically for mental disorders. This would eventually provide for the return of many patients back to their communities for treatment in less restrictive facilities. In 1991, it was renamed the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo. By 2008, the patient census declined to less than 500 patients and remains that way today.

Nell and Bob to the Rescue!

The museum was developed to ensure that the history of the Colorado State Hospital was not forgotten and is here for the future generations to be able to gain an understanding of the treatment of the mentally ill in the past.

Before Bob and Nell Mitchell had taken the museum under their wing, it was originally the Home of the Superintendents during the time that they were serving the hospital, (although there were only two that had lived in the residency.) Because it wasn’t being used for its original purpose, it was then turned into a conference center in the 80s, but was not used as often as they had believed it would be.

It wasn’t until the realization Bob and Nell had when they had saw that the hospital was discarding important historical artifacts. They were going to throw away old patient records, old surgical equipment, etc. This is when they had went to Dr. Haydee Kort and asked if they could take over the unused home and turn it into a museum. In 1984 the house was renovated under Dr. Kort’s orders, and Nell Mitchell then gained the National Register of Historic places status for the residence in September of 1985.

The museum did not open until 1998 because the creation of the museum was a long and hard process. All of the old hospital archives were coming in, so Nell and Bob spent late nights and weekends setting up in order for the public to gain the most out of the experience.