Dorothea Dix Hospital was authorized in 1849 and named for Dorothea L. Dix, crusader for better care for the mentally ill. The hospital grounds at one time included 2,354 acres, which were used for the hospital's farms, orchards, livestock, maintenance buildings, employee housing, and park grounds.
Union troops camped on Dix Hill in April 1865 as part of Sherman’s March to the Sea. In 1984, the Hunt administration transferred 385 acres to NC State University. In 2012, Dorothea Dix Hospital moved its last patients and formally closed the hospital. In 2015, the remaining 308-acres of the original Dorothea Dix Hospital property was transferred to the City of Raleigh and become Dorothea Dix Park.
