Northern State (Mental Hospital) Recreational Area

Northern State Mental Hospital, east of Sedro-Woolley, dates back to 1910.

Sedro-Woolley aimed to boost their sagging economy and create jobs by buying 800 acres and building the hospital.

In the 1940s the hospital took on a new surgeon, Dr. Charles H. Jones who perfected the frontal lobotomy operation at the hospital. During his time there, around 650 patients were admitted each year, with some 400 discharged and the other 250 either having died or been transferred to another facility.

It is claimed there is a huge unmarked graveyard behind the gymnasium containing at least 1,000 bodies. Some patients who died were also cremated.

The hospital doubled its acreage, with dairy facilities and food preparation buildings, shown here, staffed by patients. The hospital closed in 1976. 

Skagit County purchased 726 acres of the site in 1991. 

That part is now called the Northern State Recreation Area and has a disc golf course. 

There are many trails through the recreation area, the location of the hospital's farming endeavors. 

The actual hospital buildings are occupied by a drug treatment center are not open to the public.