Background
Charles Henry Nichols was born on October 19, 1820 in Vassalboro, Maine, United States. He was the son of Caleb Nichols.
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Charles Henry Nichols was born on October 19, 1820 in Vassalboro, Maine, United States. He was the son of Caleb Nichols.
Nichols received his academic training in the schools of his native state and at the Friends' School of Providence, Rhode Island. He studied medicine at the University of the City of New York and the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his degree from the latter institution in 1843, after which he practised for a short time at Lynn, Massachussets.
From 1847 to 1849 he served Dr. Amariah Brigham, one of the pioneers in mental medicine, at the New York State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, New York, and from 1849 to 1852 he was resident physician at the Bloomingdale Asylum, New York City.
In 1852 he was selected by President Fillmore to superintend and take charge of the establishment of the Government Hospital for the Insane (now St. Elizabeth's Hospital). An appropriation of $200, 000 was made for the purchase of a site, consisting of 200 acres, and for the construction work required. Nichols prepared plans for the original building and personally supervised the entire work, meeting the deficiency of this small appropriation by manufacturing the bricks out of the earth dug for the foundation.
Architecturally the building was a modified type of the old Kirkbride style, and consisted of a central administrative portion, with wings on each side. Nichols' construction, differing from the older type in that the wings were in echelon, is said to have been twenty-five years in advance of its time, and was reproduced by many of the state hospitals and those of Australia and Newfoundland. A well-appointed lodge for the colored insane, probably the first distinct provision of the kind ever made for the people of that race, was attached to the institution.
For a quarter of a century Nichols remained at St. Elizabeth's, erecting additional buildings, acquiring considerable additional land, and at the same time keeping the institution abreast of the most modern curative methods in the treatment of the insane.
During the Civil War he acted as volunteer surgeon of the St. Elizabeth's General Army Hospital, and was present as one of General McDowell's staff at the battle of Bull Run.
In 1877 he resigned to accept the position of medical superintendent of the Bloomingdale Asylum in New York City, and when it was decided to build the new hospital at White Plains, he was sent to Europe to study the newest methods of hospital construction. He visited many foreign institutions and the ideas which he obtained were utilized to great advantage in his new construction program.
Chiefly remembered perhaps is his testimony for the defense in the trial of the United States vs. Charles J. Guiteau, who assassinated President Garfield. In appearance, Nichols was imposing. Well over six feet tall and broad in proportion, with a commanding presence, he was well fitted by nature to be a leader.
The betterment of the conditions of the mentally ill occupied the greater portion of his life. No doubt his interest in this particular class of unfortunates was due to his upbringing among the Quakers, a sect which has supplied so many pioneers in the field of psychiatry.
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Nichols was an honorary member of the Medico-Psychological Association of Great Britain.
In 1860 he married Ellen G. Maury, daughter of John Maury, at one time mayor of Washington; they had one daughter, who died at an early age, and a son. His first wife having died June 12, 1865, he married in 1872 Sallie (Lathrop) Garlic of Pittsfield, Massachussets.