In 1830, there were fewer than 200 mentally ill people hospitalized in the United States. However, they appeared to be increasing in number among the homeless and incarcerated populations. Dorothea Dix and other reformers persuaded the states to build state mental hospitals for these people. The number of patients in these hospitals increased at a rapid rate and peaked in 1955 with 558,000 mentally ill individuals. In 1909, two events took place that would shape American psychiatry for the remainder of the twentieth century. The first was the creation of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, which had as its goals “the prevention of nervous and mental disorders and the care and treatment of the insane.” Later, in 1909, Sigmund Freud arrived in America to give a series of lectures on his theories that early childhood experiences were the cause of most mental illnesses. William A. White and other leaders of American psychiatry promoted Freud’s theories and the idea of preventing mental illnesses.