Dix, Dorothea Lynde (1802-1887), led the drive to build state hospitals for the mentally ill in the United States. She also improved prison conditions. She traveled through the United States and Europe for this cause until she was 80. She gained the support of wealthy people, and of such distinguished educators and statesmen as Horace Mann and Charles Sumner.
Dix was born on April 4, 1802, in Hampden, Maine, but grew up in Massachusetts. She visited a Massachusetts house of correction in 1841, and was shocked by the treatment of the mentally ill. She asked the legislature to provide better care, and started the reform in that state. During the American Civil War (1861-1865), she was superintendent of the U.S. Army nurses. She died on July 18, 1887.
