Weston State Hospital, Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
Located in Weston, West Virginia

The hospital was authorized by the Virginia General Assembly in the early 1850's as the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Following consultations with Thomas Story Kirkbride,  then superintendent of the Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, a building in the Kirkbride Plan was designed in the Gothic Revival and Tudor Revival styles by Richard Snowden Andrews, an architect from Baltimore whose other commissions included the Maryland Governor's residence in Annapolis and the south wing of the U.S. Treasury building in Washington.

Construction on the site, along with West Fork River opposite downtown Weston, began in late 1858. Work was initially conducted by prison laborers and later skilled stonemasons were brought in from Germany and Ireland. Construction was interrupted by the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Following its secession from the United States, the government of Virginia demanded the return of the hospital's unused construction funds for its defense but before this could occur, the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry seized the money from a local bank and delivered it to Wheeling West Virginia where it was put toward the establishment of the Reorganized Government of Virginia, which sided with the northern states during the war.

The Reoganized Government appropriated money to resume the construction in 1862 following the admission of West Virginia as a US state in 1863 and the hospital was renamed the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane. The first patients were admitted in October 1864 but construction continued into 1881. The 200 foot central clock tower was completed in 1871.
The hospital was intended to be self-sufficient, and a farm, dairy, waterworks, and cemetery were located on its grounds which eventually reached 666 acres in area. A gas well was drilled on the grounds in 1902 and its name was changed again to Weston State Hospital in 1913.

Originally designed to house 250 patients in solitude, the hospital held 717 patients by 1880, 1661 in 1838, over 1800 in 1949 and 2400 in the 1950s in overcrowded conditions. A 1938 report by a survey committee organized by a group of North American medical organizations found that the hospital housed epileptics, alcoholics, drug addict and non- educable mental "defectives" among its population.

A series of reports by The Charleston Gazette in 1949 found poor sanitation and insufficient furniture, lighting and heating in much of the complex, while one wing, which had been rebuilt using the Works Progress Administration funds following a 1935 fire started by a patient, was comparatively luxurious. By the 1980's, the hospital had a reduced population due to changes in the treatment of mental illness. In 1986, then Governor Arch Moore announced plans to build a new psychiatric facility elsewhere in the state and convert the Weston hospital to a prison. Ultimately the new facility, the William R Sharpe Jr Hospital, was built in Weston and the old Weston State Hospital was simply closed, in May 1994. The building and its grounds have since been mostly vacant, aside from local events such as tours (no longer inside the building), fairs, and church revivals.

The 242,000 square foot structure was purchased by an asbestos demolition contractor in August of 2007 for $1.5 million dollars and the future plans for the building are uncertain, although sections of the roof have been replaced and grounds maintenance are ongoing. In October of 2007, a Fall Fest was held at the location. Guided daytime tours as well as haunted hospital tours were offered.