1848: Dorothea Dix campaigns for a state hospital for the mentally ill. Lawmakers pass bill to build hospital.

1850: State buys 182 acres one mile west of Raleigh for hospital.

1856: Dorothea Dix Hospital opens as the State Hospital for the Insane in North Carolina on Dix Hill and admits its first patient, a Mexican War veteran from Rockingham County.

1865: During Civil War, northern troops camp on the Dix grounds.

1926: Fire destroys the north wing of hospitals main building.

1958: Hospital renamed the Dorothea Dix Hospital.

1985: Gov. Jim Hunt transfers much of the Dix campus to the state Department of agriculture for the Farmers Market and N.C. state University's Centennial Campus.

1995: State completes master plan that includes plans for a new hospital and eventual transfer of land to Centennial Campus.

1997: Construction of the Western Boulevard extension cuts a patch of old trees from the front of the Dix campus.

1999: The Capital Area Soccer League begins construction on soccer fields on the Dix Property.

By: Tara Braaten

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