The Second-Oldest State Psychiatric Hospital in the United States

To the Editor: The “Images in Psychiatry” article by de Leon, et al. (1) in the February 2014 issue describes the Eastern State Hospital, Lexington, Ky., opened in 1824, as “the second-oldest state mental hospital in the United States,” after the Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Va., which opened in 1766. However, this statement ignores the Spring Grove Hospital Center in Catonsville, Md., which has been continuously operating since it opened in 1797. The hospital is affiliated with the University of Maryland Department of Psychiatry and houses the world-renowned Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (2, 3).