The Dix Hill Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 for its statewide significance in North Carolina’s history of advances in health and medicine, landscape architecture, and architecture. The district encompasses about 80 acres lying southwest of the intersection of S. Saunders Street and Lake Wheeler Road.

Present day Dix Hill was the result of a 19th century campaign by Dorothea Dix, a nationally-noted advocate of humane treatment of what were then referred to as the insane. Miss Dix, on a sustained tour of state capitals, successfully lobbied the North Carolina State Legislature to erect a state-of-the-art insane asylum, and on December 23, 1848, a commission chaired by former governor John Motley Morehead was established to conduct a search for appropriate acreage on which to begin the project. In 1851 the commission settled on a portion of Spring Hill, an 18th century plantation established by Col. Theophilus Hunter, and later enlarged by his son, Theophilus, Jr., saying that “. . . after carefully examining the whole country in the vicinity of Raleigh, we chose a location west of the city and about one mile distant, which in our opinion was best adapted to that purpose . . . This location had a commanding view of the city and is believed to be  perfectly healthy. The grounds are beautifully undulating and susceptible of improvement.”

The commission purchased 182 acres from Mr. Hunter, and hired the nationally-prominent architect, Alexander Jackson Davis, to design a hospital to the latest standards for care of the insane. The first patient was admitted February 22, 1856.

Miss Dix asked that the hospital not be named after her, but agreed that it should be named Dix Hill for her grandfather, Dr. Elijah Dix. It was not until 1956 that the legislature voted to honor her by officially changing the name to Dorothea Dix Hospital.

Throughout the 19th century, a small amount of the acreage was used as a building site, and the balance was devoted to agricultural pursuits conducted by the patients, who grew their own food. The farming activities were conducted on the rear (west) of the property, while the grove, a vital element of the historic significance of the property, was enhanced in the belief that a tranquil setting aided in the treatment and recovery of the patients. In 1908, the hospital was enlarged to 1,315 acres.

The campus continued to evolve during the first half of the 20th century, with the addition of buildings designed by prominent architects. The beautiful grove on the hill at the entrance to the complex was nurtured, and during the Great Depression, architectural and landscape projects were undertaken by federal public works agencies. In 1952 the central pavilion of A.J. Davis’s original hospital was demolished and replaced by a modern six-story hospital.

With the rise of community mental health facilities, the programs at Dix were scaled back, and much of the 1,315 acres has been surrendered to North Carolina State University. The hospital itself was scheduled to close around 2008, but a small number of patients and staff remained at the site as long as 2012. The legislature, the public and various  interest groups entered into a protracted debate about how to use the park in the future. That debate ended in the Dec-4, 2012 decision that the State of North Carolina will lease the property to the City of Raleigh for 75..99 years.

External Links

• http://www.rhdc.org/dix-hill-historic-district-1

• http://southwestraleigh.com/2011/02/dix-hill-historic-district/

• History research by Linda Edmisten

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