October 19, 1863
The Weston Lunatic Asylum. - Mr. Farnsworth, from the committee appointed to visit and examine the Weston Lunatic Asylum, has made a report to the Legislature. They report that for extensiveness, quality of material used, and execution of the work, the building is rarely surpassed. The present board deserves great credit for the perseverance and economy they have manifested. They have labored under many difficulties owing to rebel raids which destroyed some thousand dollars' worth of tools, driving away hands, thereby increasing the price of labor, &c. the left wing can be finished and furnished ready for use by the middle of December next, and will be capable of accommodating forty patients, besides the rooms necessary for attendants. One story of the main building to the centre will be up during the winter and the walls protected against the frost ready for the work next spring. In the completion of the entire building the right wing will have to be raised in its foundation so as to bring the one story intended for patients on a level with the rest of the building, sufficient to make tow lower stories that may be converted into a temporary penitentiary with the additional cost, over its original purpose, of $10,000, and will accommodate about one hundred convicts.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: Undated: October 1863