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Charenton was founded in 1645 and was originally run by a charitable order of brothers. After a brief period of closure during the French Revolution, the hospital became a state-run institution. Work on a reconstruction project began in June 1838, resulting in the construction of a new building. Located six miles south-east of Paris, Charenton housed 600-700 patients in the early 1870s. Patients in the large institution were usually from the middle and upper classes. Not only did Charenton treat psychiatric patients, it also provided accommodation for wealthy people recovering from operations, fevers and other maladies. Charenton was renamed Hôpital Esquirol in 1973, after nineteenth century institution director Jean-Etienne Dominique Esquirol.
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