Since its establishment in 1875, the campus at Warm Springs, now called the Montana State Hospital, has been put to use towards the palliative treatment of Montanans. The supervisors transformed what had been a health resort into a hospital dedicated to the care of the “mentally deficient wards” of the state. The changes to the campus and its buildings reflect the changing trends in mental health care over the years. Warm Springs was more comprehensive in that it also was self-sufficient for much of its history, with manufacturing and farming considered part of the care for the patients. In this talk for the Extreme History Project, Architect Lesley Gilmore tells about this history and some of the personal stories within it.

Recorded at the Museum of the Rockies on October 11, 2018.