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The Asylum Hill Project

When the Medical Center opened its doors in 1955, there was little that remained of another large health care institution that had operated on this same site until 1935. 

The Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum, as it was originally known, opened in 1855 and served over 30,000 patients during its 80-year history. Approximately 10,000 of those patients died during their stay and many were buried on campus.

In 2022, The Asylum Hill Project began a large archaeological initiative to exhume the remains of these individuals. The cemetery area occupies the last remaining undeveloped land on campus and is needed for critical UMMC expansion.