Hooper placed Henry Rae in the county poor house yesterday. During the struggle the negro tried hard to bite his assailants but was prevented from doing so."ġ895: "Deputy Sheriff M.W. He fought like a tiger but was finally overpowered and placed in a wagon and conveyed safely to the poor farm. To remove him to the poor house yesterday morning it took the entire jail force to put him in chains. No attention was paid to his wild assertions until Sunday, when he became so obnoxious that the police were notified. He has for sometime been wandering about the neighborhood in the west part of the city claiming that the property formerly owned by the estate of W.L. Chapman, has within the last eight or ten months lost his reason and is now a complete mental wreck. O'Rourke, who was attacked with a fit of insanity Tuesday night and threatened to kill his wife and child, was also taken to the county farm."ġ894: "A negro about 19 years of age named John Kinney, who was raised by Mrs. It is thought she will die of starvation."ġ894: "Dad Stevenson, the old circus clown, who has been in a potable condition for several weeks as the result of too much whisky, was taken to the poor house yesterday. Here are only a few examples found in Springfield newspapers:ġ887: "An old German woman at the almshouse is afflicted with melancholy, a species of insanity, and refuses to eat. Many mentions talked of the "unfortunate" people who were sent to live there, and why it became their new home. As the city grew, the land became desirable and the farm was relocated outside of town on today's West Division Street.It's difficult to do a comprehensive search in newspapers about the local poor farm because it was referred to by many different terms with slight variations over the years.īut even with the words I searched, it was obvious the place was a topic of interest. The first version of Springfield's poor farm opened in 1873 and was located along Pickwick Avenue in the heart of the city. Other articles talk about the amount of food residents were given to eat: That vegetables were a core part of their diet, and that they were given but one hot biscuit once a week. I wasn't there, so I didn't see things firsthand. Those wholesome remarks are in contrast to what was likely going on at the farm. "The county farms have raised enough potatoes, turnips, beans, black-eyed peas and many other vegetables to feed the 180 people who live there through the year." And that the farm had 400 chickens, seven milch cows and six heifers. In 1916, for example, a newspaper article tells of 33 hogs being butchered and 75 gallons of lard rendered at the Springfield farm. To help offset expenses, they often operated a farm where residents helped raise crops and livestock. While browsing through old newspapers, I learned that it was a local nursing home in operation through the late 1970s - and, before that, was the last iteration of Greene County's poor farm.īeing me, it launched an effort to learn as much as possible as this very sad chapter in our history, one that likely was similar to many places.In the past, many Ozarks counties had poor farms, or almshouses, which were a last resort for individuals who were deemed incapable of taking care of themselves. I came across the story of this cemetery after discovering a place called Sunshine Acres.
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