What are the origins of the whistle that blows every day at noon in Marion, Va.? I recently moved back to the area and the whistle reminds me of my childhood.
Frances Stone
Marion, Va.
The whistle is originating from Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute just as it has sounded at noon since the early 1900s.
I spoke with Joyce Eller, administrative assistant to the assistant director at the hospital, who did a bit of research on the interesting background of the steam whistle and the facility.
In the early days of what was then called the Southwest Virginia Lunatic Asylum, patients were allowed to work around the hospital grounds in the gardens, the dairy and farm where livestock was raised. The whistle would sound at noon to signal lunch time for patients and staff.
Eller said the facility, which opened in 1887, housed between 1,200 and 1,300 patients at the time. And with a series of long and short blasts, the whistle also served as an alert to the staff and surrounding community when a patient would go missing.
In later years, a whistle code was developed as a fire alarm up until the time an alarm system was installed. She said the whistle alarm, via the code of long and short blasts, would even specify a particular building was affected.
In the late 1980s, the facility upgraded and actually divided into the Southwest Virginia State Hospital and the Marion Correctional Treatment Facility, a secured compound for the criminally insane. The whistle was no longer needed with the physical and operational changes, but it continues to sound as a long-standing tradition.
“Everyone in town was accustomed to the whistle,” Eller said. “When they heard it, they knew is was 12 o’clock.”
Steam for the whistle is generated by boilers at the hospital’s power plant, which still provides steam heating to building like the one where Eller has worked for
nearly 30 years. The administration building is one of the original structures and is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.
These days, the Mental Health Institute has 172 beds, a significant reduction from earlier times because now many services are provided by programs and facilities throughout the community, she said.
This question brought to mind the sirens that sound at noon each Saturday in Bristol, Tenn. I can still remember them from my childhood as Civil Defense sirens from the Cold War.
Bristol Tennessee Police Maj. Tim Eads said the system has been upgraded over the years to five sirens located around town to serve as early warning primarily for severe weather.
The police operations center staff tests the system each Saturday to make sure it’s operational, he said.
MARK HICKS is assistant city editor at the Herald Courier and can be reached at (276) 645-2546 or by e-mail at mhicks@bristolnews.com. Questions can be mailed to Question Mark, Bristol Herald Courier, P.O. Box 609, Bristol, VA 24203.
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