Dorothea Dix of Hampden worked for social reform for the mentally ill, founding more than 30 hospitals. She improved hospital conditions for thousands of patients.

Dix was appointed Superintendent of Nurses for the Union Army in 1861.

She was known as "A God-appointed missionary to the insane." But she preferred to think of herself as..."The Hope of the poor crazed beings who pine in cells and stalls and cages."