Before there was welfare or Social Security there were various institutions that housed, fed, and provided shelter for the indigent in our communities. Depending on the state and county, these institutions were known by various names including workhouses. almshouse, county home or county farm and poor farms.
It is estimated that there were over 130,000 poor farms across the country in 1935. In addition to people who could not pay their debts, the poor farms often housed the elderly, infirmed, and mentally ill.
As politicians often do, someone had an idea that the poor could be asked (or required) to provide labor in exchange for their room and board. Counties began looking for agricultural land to purchase, both as an investment, and a location for a poor farm. The “inmates” who were physically capable could provide regular labor to grow gardens or crops and raise livestock.
The poor farm was overseen by a hired Superintendent. The Superintendent would be a paid civil servant, often with agricultural experience, who lived on the facility and managed the day-to-day activities of the farm operation.
Many inmates of the county farm believed this was their last earthly stop. And, indeed for many, it was. That what remains of poor farms today is most often the cemetery is grim testament to that reality.
