Founded in 1821 as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum -- one of America's first mental hospitals -- the South Carolina State Hospital is a publicly-funded state-run psychiatric hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. This is the Mills Building, its first structure, designed by early American architect Robert Mills, who is best known as the architect of the Washington Monument in the nation's capital. The hospital had more than 1,000 patients in 1900, but with the transition of mental health facilities to community settings, it is now much smaller, occupying only a small portion of its campus. Photo by Carol Highsmith.