Carolina Stories: Down on Bull Street

Down on Bull Street is a one-hour program that explores the evolution and history of the South Carolina State Hospital and its efforts to provide services to the mentally ill. The Bull Street facility at the SC State Hospital in Columbia is layered with a rich and complex history spanning more than 188 years. The doors to the Asylum first opened in 1827, offering refuge for the mentally ill in one location in the center of the state.  This new facility promoted the idea of moral treatment – a new concept which promoted healing not from previous barbaric practices, but with consideration for a patient’s emotions and environmental concerns.  As the hospital grew, it became self-sustaining with a bakery, farm, dairy, and laundry.  The grounds were surrounded by a wall separating the patients from the outside world. The program takes viewers on a journey from the opening of Bull Street into the 1980s when the movement to integrate patients back into the community became the new model of treatment. Produced, directed, edited and written by Lynn Cornfoot. Narrated by Beryl Dakers. Catalog number: 438-000