In 1846, Mississippi governor A. G. Brown promoted the need for an insane asylum to the state legislature. In 1920, the state hospital was located in Jackson and had 1,670 residents. In 1930, it had 2,649 residents. In 1935, the
Mississippi State Insane Asylum moved from a complex of 19th-century buildings in northern
Jackson to its current location, the former property of a state penal colony, the
Rankin Farm. MSH became overcrowded. It held people with severe mental illness, as well as people suffering from alcoholism, depression, menopause, and other ailments that have been resolved with modern medicine in later generations. In the 1930s, the facility consisted of acres of farmland, including cultivated acres. MSH was a self-sufficient facility, with its own bakery, dairy, laundry, post office,
tuberculosis hospital, and water wells. Hunter Cole, author of
The Legs Murder Scandal, said that in the 1930s, MSH appeared "more like an estate than a prison" due to the fields, meadows, and woodlands in the area. Arrington High, a black man protesting segregationist activities in Mississippi, was confined there in 1957 for the rest of his life. During the time MSH had many
Mount Vernon style buildings. A lake was created in front of the main buildings. Before desegregation, MSH was segregated. White patients resided on the east side of the campus and African-American patients resided on the west side of the campus. Each group had its own group of facilities including chapels, dining halls, recreational facilities, and tuberculosis sanatoria. In 1935, 3,000 residents and 475 employees lived in the facility. ==Facilities==