On September 7, 1863, the asylum reopened but, due to limited resources, admitted only one hundred patients. When legislative support increased after the war, the institution's population soared to 369 by 1868. For the first time, in the fall of 1865, "colored" patients were among those admitted. However, by 1868 Superintendent Charles Hughes recommended that the "colored" patients be housed in a separate structure from the whites.
"So great has been the demand for admissions during the last two months, we have been compelled to discharge some of our most unimproving cases of long standing to make room."
Superintendent T. R. H. Smith, 1873
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