Our History

Direct Care and Treatment's history spans nearly 170 years. It started when Minnesota became a state in 1858. Back then, the Legislature saw an immediate need for a place to care for people with mental illnesses, substance use disorders and developmental disabilities. However, with no means to provide the services, state lawmakers contracted with the state of Iowa to take patients from Minnesota. The arrangement lasted until 1866, when Minnesota opened its first state hospital in St. Peter. 

The hospital opened in a temporary location that year, and a sprawling facility was soon constructed on a 800-acre campus. By the end of 1872, 1,050 patients were residents there. A portion of that original Kirkbride facility still stands on the St. Peter campus and is home to the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center Museum, which contains hundreds of artifacts and photos from the facility's bygone eras.

Expansion continued for nearly a century as 10 more state hospitals were built in communities across Minnesota:

  • 1879: Faribault and Rochester
  • 1890: Fergus Falls
  • 1900: Anoka and Hastings
  • 1911: St. Paul (Gillette)
  • 1912: Willmar
  • 1925: Cambridge
  • 1938: Moose Lake
  • 1958: Brainerd

The massive facilities and sprawling campuses were communities unto themselves. Many had farming operations that provided both work and food for patients and staff. Farming operations continued into the 1960s. While some patients eventually recovered and could return home, a great many patients spent much or most of their lives in the facilities.

Treatment for mental illness as we know it today didn't really exist back then. For nearly a century, there were no medications for treating mental illness, so the facilities focused on controlling patient behaviors. This led to the overuse of restraint, seclusion as well as inhumane and abusive treatment of patients. Many facilities were tragically overcrowded and understaffed and conditions in some were appalling.  

By the late 1940s, a wave of reforms that swept the nation gradually began moving Minnesota toward deinstitutionalization in favor of community based services and treatment for people with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities. The sprawling campuses gradually were closed or repurposed. The transformation took decades and in many respects is still underway.

Today, Direct Care and Treatment is a modern behavioral health care system that has the clinical expertise, staff and facilities to care for patients and clients with complex conditions in safe, secure and therapeutic settings across Minnesota.   

Learn More

Check out the resources below for more information about DCT's history.