What would one do with 20 miles of telephone wire in 1858?

They left out singing. There was a woman sent away for life because she kept singing.

"Now imagine it is 1858 and you must build this new hospital from the ground without power tools, without machines, and without modern technology."
Now imagine how, WITH all that "stuff", modern "municipal" buildings seem to need major rehab, or replacement, every 30-40 years, or less.

With that list of infractions we could have locked up Obama, his rookie and all of Congress. I say: return to the good old days!!

Of course, I'd be in the can with them, so maybe not.

Money. If you stood to inherit a large sum of money on your 21st birthday...back in the day...your relatives could have you committed for any number of reasons and collect your inheritance. This happened to my mother. She 'voluntarily' committed herself just short of her 21st birthday after years of harassment by her older brothers...the oldest being almost 20 years older than her. The stench of feces and vomit and Lysol still waft through my sinuses when I used to visit her at Osawatomie State Psychiatric Hospital...what we used to call as children - the Asane Asylum.

My uncle Louie Lozko, we all called him "Letsgo Lozko", he raised bantam chickens. I asked him one time did he ever talk to the chickens.
He said he tried teaching them tricks like climb the ladder, fetch the ball, sit on a perch. But they were mostly unresponsive.
"All dey do is skvawk, shit, lay eggs." he said.
I said well, you taught them something ... and he just looked at me.
I bet he would have been committed if somebody noticed but he was like that all the time. Who knows?

Very interesting details you have mentioned , regards for posting . "I've made a couple of mistakes I'd like to do over." by Jerry Coleman.