The Ca. home for the handicap'ed was created in 1885. Orginally located in the town of Santa Clara, the facilities proved inadequate. In 1889 the Farm of William McPHERSON, comprising of 1660 acres, located near the town of Glen Ellen, Sonoma, CO., was purchased for $50,000. On 24, Nov. 1891, the physical move was made to Glen Ellen site. The name was changed to "Sonoma State" Hospital in 1915. Its under the control of the State Commission in Lunacy (1897). In 1921 the agency name was changed to Dept. of Institutions as manager of State mental institutions. It was then superseded by the Dept. of Mental Hygiene, which still curently is known by. The dubous title of longest confinement went to this hospital for the developmentaly-disabled persons, in the name of LEONORA { Nora } SPURR. born 1855, died 1928. Her parents were Daniel and Sarah SPURR, he was a lawyer. Many criminal history's are of the insane's person's doing, and its written into the judgements of the time. TO my knowledge , it took a court order to have a handicap person- insane peerson committed to an institution. Good hunting. ~ Linda ~ Willow Creek,CA.