In late December 1893, hundreds of people traveled by train and barge to a remote farm in South Fayette Township. The journey took less than eight hours. Forty invalids rode in baggage cars.
Over 200 mental patients followed in waves through February 1894. They came from Pittsburgh’s overcrowded poorhouse along the Monongahela River to a new facility that would become Mayview State Hospital.
The complex stood on 243 acres purchased from the George Neal Farm for about $62,000. The construction cost $500,000…