User:MauraWen/sandbox Poorhouse

Facility providing housing for poor people

The Poorhouse, (also known as an almshouse, workhouse, or poor farm), was a government-sponsored facility that provided temporary relief for the destitute, injured, aged, and infirm. In England, Ireland and Wales, these facilities were typically called workhouses, because "inmates" were required to work. In the United States, poorhouses were primarily found in densely populated cities. Poor farms..... Canada.....

Definition and alternative names

The United States

"Each county elected Overseers of the Poor to be responsible for constructing a Poor House."

 

Richmond, VA Almshouse

1650s to 1850's

In colonial America "the poor were largely cared for through some form of outdoor relief, or were auctioned off to local farmers. by 1850 all this had changed. The institutional explosion that included the almshouse burst forth from both voluntary and state sponsorship. The institutional development of the early and mid-19th century. In the case of poorhouses, it was the way in which the great economic, social, and demographic transformations of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries made poverty a major American problem. Poverty was not unusual among the American working class in the early nineteenth century.^[1]

New York-almshouse records 1759 start.

1850's to 1935

"Grounded in the English poor laws, Virginia's system of poor relief had changed considerably in its first two hundred years. Originally a purely local and entirely public function, by 1860 the welfare system had grown more complex. An array of private benevolent and mutual aid organizations had emerged to care for small, select groups of dependents. Usually religious in orientation, these private volunteer associations generally provided assistance to members of their own groups."^[2]: 66

"Public welfare had shifted its emphasis , away from the previously preferred "outdoor relief" and toward a new concentration on institutionalization."^[2]: 66

"The complex welfare system would break down under the stresses of the Civil War. Unable to meet the needs of its citizens, the welfare system would look quite different. The first appearance of the federal government and increased state-level involvement, would redefine the system of poor relief" in America.^[2]: 67

Northern U.S.

Boston: "The rise of American alsmhouses in the 18th century was in the most densely populated communities. Some had been impoverished by the Revolutionary War, some dislocated by the industrial revolution, newly arrived immigrant, former slaves, ill, physically or mentally handicapped, women and children. Women were disproportionately poor and need of poor relief in America. women lacked work skills to support themselves and their children. Pregnant women, abused women, widowed and abandoned women"^[3]

Philadelphia: "The Philadelphis almshouse employed women in a wide range of tasks. As contract labor, women made textiles and clothing, tended vegetables and animals, and performed small tasks in the buildings, . They cooked, cleaned, mended clothes, assisted with births, and tended the sick."^[4]

New York City’s Almshouse history dates back to the colonial era when poverty and regular outbreaks of measles and smallpox overtook its streets. Prior to this time, the church had taken care of New York City’s poor and destitute. The first Almshouse was opened in 1736 . Broadly referred to as Almshouses, these establishments included workhouses, soldiers’ barracks, hospitals, penitentiaries and asylums. A second authorized Almshouse was built in 1795. This second institution, Bridewell, was built next to the first as a prison on which today is the site of City Hall Park, to be used as a jail for convicted criminals and debtors. These institutions, known collectively as Almshouse and Bridewell housed and fed the poor, destitute, criminal, elderly, infirm, sick and mentally ill men, women and children of the City. By 1860, The Almshouse Department was abolished and the Department of Public Charities and Correction took its place. 7000 inmates who resided in the various cramped institutions.^[5]

Midwest

"In November 1854, the Poor House and County Farm began operation. All patients regardless of their physical or mental health were housed in this early structure. The main building was three stories high and cost $ 25,000." Eighteen years after the beginning of the Cook County Poor Farm, , the Poor House building in 1868 was declared frail and exceedingly combustible. A new building designed only for the insane was decided upon. The Committee on Poor House and Paupers selected a site for the insane asylum about 200 feet south of the "present County House." Construction on a new insane asylum began August 30, 1869. The building was three stories high."n the years after 1910, the Cook County Board of Commissioners realized that the care of the insane and the poor was growing at an alarming rate and costs were escalating. They felt that both the poor and the insane was more than they could afford and manage. Therefore the county persuaded the state to take responsibility for all the insane in Illinois. Cook County offered the entire property and buildings to the state for the sum of one dollar. As soon as this deal was agreed upon, Cook County began to build a new facility for the poor at Oak Forest Illinois, leaving the insane behind for the state. On November 26 1910, the first 250 poor house patients were transferred to the new Oak Forest Infirmary, in anticipation of the State taking over the County Farm."^[6]

This new insane asylum opened in 1870 a

Southern U.S.

This business of relief

"The content of public provision varied from community to community; it also changed over time as changes in the economy, population and politics affected social welfare policy.^[2]: 5

"Public welfare came to Virginia in the 17th century as an inheritance of the English poor laws....All English colonies followed these basic principles, later states, North and South did so as well. The only exception was Louisiana which drew upon French precedents and had no equivalent to the English poor laws."^[2]: 10

 

Boston almshouse, 1851

"Local control, individualized relief and residency requirements. p 14 "The first principal of the English poor laws was that poor relief would be financed and administered locally. Secondly, aid should be given in the form that best suited the individual, whether by individual grants which allowed individuals to live at home, apprenticeships, work-relief and institutionalization." Colonies often followed the english model of combining church and local aid."^[2]: 10

"Individuals requesting relief were rarely investigated as they and their circumstances were known in their community."The primary requirement was residency. In Virginia, the relief applicatnt needed to have been a resident in the community for the prior 12 months.^[2]: 11

One method of relief was granting exemption from taxation. The elderly and sick often received this type of relief.^[2]: 12 Payment of cash, food, clothing, fuel and medical care were often donated. This kind of relief was called "outdoor relief, which allowed the needy, old and infirm to stay in their homes and weather what would hopefully be a short-term situation."

Workhouses were seen originally as separate from almshouses. p 14 Workhouses, common in England, were rejected by communities in Colonial America. Institutionalization in the form of Poorhouses and workhouses were much less common that outdoor relief in America. Almshouses were used for those who had no relatives to care for them.

After the Rev war, the "worthy poor" would include veterans.Virginia veteran pensions would help injured veterans and widows until 1850.p21

1805, construction on Richmond's first poorhouse called the "City Alms and Workhouse.", 4 story brick building. it could accommodate 90 people. Had the combined functions of a public hospital, asylum for the poor and orphans, and workhouse. p 28

In Mississippi in 1821, paupers were required to give up all worldly goods to enter the poorhouse. This rule had the effect, intended or not, of making the admission permanent. p 28

Economic downturns like the Panic of 1819 led to doubling of resident numbers in VA poorhouse. Still distributed "outdoor relief". caused poorhouses to be turned entirely into workhouses in some cities and outdoor relief was discontinued in Petersburg. p 30 Whites outnumbered free blacks in the poorhouses, but blacks were allowed admission. They were typically housed together.

Women were more productive than men, because it was easier to find work within the poorhouse for women to do: spinning, weaving, knitting. Men had less opportunities for work that they were accustomed to and were often criticized by inspectors for being idle. p 37

A survey of admissions to the Richmond Poorhouse from 836-1837: 25% were ill, 10% were injured, and the remainders were because of old age, insanity or intemperance. p 55

In 1850-51, Richmond Poorhouse, of those able to work, women were assigned to laundry, nursing assistance and sewing. Men worked on the streets, in the garden or in the graveyards painting, cart driving for the poor house. No one was exempt except for children. p 56

Inmates were not detained against their will. Poorhouse residents arrived voluntarily, except for those that arrived at the poorhouse in the "sick wagon" and could leave at any time exc. p 57

Changing attitudes towards poverty and poor relief after 1830 embedded in efforts to limit outdoor relief and build a workhouse. p 62. view of poorhouse residents as strangers, immigrants, indolent, undeserving.

Richmond built a new almshouse in the 1850's, used in the civil war. Emancipation doubled the numbers of local citizens applying for poor relief and the new building was deemed inadequate.

Rural poor farms

^[7]

The Poorhouse book

timeline

• first almshouse in the U.S. was Boston's workhouse
• widespread drive to build almshouses and workhouses in easterrn u.s. after the Yates and Quincy reports
• 1870 campaign to remove children from poorhouses

"Since the late 1970s, conditions for the poor have deteriorated so much, that jail, prison and homeless shelters have become our new poorhouses."^[8]

"Poorhouses were far more numerous in New England than in other regions." p 28 Portland, Maine almshouse one of the oldest in the nation

"The larger cities of early America--Boston, New York and Philadelphia, were among the first to develop workhouses and poorhouses. 1820s and 1830s. p 40-41. Portland maine probably had one since 1763.

p48. called City farm too.

The United Kingdom

Main article: Workhouse

England, Ireland and Wales

 

People queuing at S. Marylebone workhouse, circa 1900

In England, Wales and Ireland,^[9] "workhouse" has been the more common term. Before the introduction of the Poor Laws, each parish would maintain its own workhouse; often these would be simple farms with the occupants dividing their time between working the farm and being employed on maintaining local roads and other parish works. An example of one such is Strand House in East Sussex. In the early Victorian era (see Poor Law), poverty was seen as a dishonourable state. As depicted by Charles Dickens, a workhouse could resemble a reformatory, often housing whole families, or a penal labour regime giving manual work to the indigent and subjecting them to physical punishment.^[10] At many workhouses, men and women were split up with no communication between them. Furthermore, these workhouse systems were instituted under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834: The United Kingdom passed this act to attempt to cut expenditure on those in poverty, reduce the number of beggars on the street, and inspire lower-class people to work harder in order to better provide for themselves.^[11]

England

Scotland

Main article: Scottish poorhouse

early: work houses were funded by a "poor tax" on landowners and criticized for being costly and creating cycles of dependency."

Canada

Toronto House of Industry
In Canada, the poorhouse, with an attached farm, was the favoured model. According to a 2009 report by the Toronto Star, "pauperism was considered a moral failing that could be erased through order and hard work".^[12] The oldest government-supported facility of this type that is still standing (now a museum), is located in the Southwestern-Ontarian hamlet of Aboyne between the larger, nearby communities of Fergus and Elora. The Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge was opened in 1877 and, over the years, housed approximately 1500 deserving poor, including those who were destitute, old and infirm, or disabled. The 60-bed house for inmates was surrounded by a 30-acre industrial farm with a barn for livestock that produced some of the food for the 70 residents and the staff and also provided work for them.^[13] Others worked in the House itself. A hospital was added in 1892. The nearby cemetery has 271 plots.^[14] In 1947, the House was converted into a home for the aged and in 1975 the building reopened as the Wellington County Museum and Archives, one of the National Historic Sites of Canada.^[15]

Gallery

•  
  Women and children in St. Louis Poor House, 1904
•  
  Male Pauper Barracks in St. Louis Poor House,1904
•  
  Concrete Sewer Blocks made at the Halifax Poor Asylum
•  
  New York City Farm Colony "inmates" at meal time, 1904
•  
  Women in Poor House

See also

• Almshouse
• Low income housing
• Scottish poorhouse
• Homeless shelter

References

1. Katz, Michael B. (1984). "Poorhouses and the Origins of the Old Age Homes" (PDF). The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly. Health and Society. 62 (1): 110–140. doi:10.2307/3349894. Retrieved 15 March 2025.
2. Green, Elna C. (2003). This Business of Relief. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0820324517.
3. Herndon, Ruth Wallis (2012). "Poor Women and the Boston Almshouse in the Early Republic". Journal of the Early Republic. 32 (3): 349–381. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
4. Bourque, Monique (2012). "Women and Work in the Philadelphia Almshouse, 1790-1840". Journal of the Early Republic. 32 (3): 383–413. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
5. "Guide to the Almshouse Ledgers 1758-1952" (PDF). NYC Dept of Records and Information Services. New York City Government. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
6. "Cook County Cemetery The Institute and Buildings". Cook County Cemetery. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
7. Daley, Michael R.; Pittman-Munke, Peggy (2016). "Over the Hill to the Poor Faarm: Rural History Almost Forgotten". Murray State University--Contemporary Rural Social Work Journal. 8 (2): 1–18. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
8. Wagner, David (2022). The Poorhouse: America's Forgotten Institution: America's Forgotten. Gotham Books.
9. "Poorhouses in Scotland". The Workhouse. Archived from the original on 2012-01-03. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
10. Blakemore, Erin (January 30, 2018). "Poorhouses Were Designed to Punish People for Their Poverty". HISTORY. Archived from the original on 2021-04-21. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
11. "1834 Poor Law". The National Archives. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
12. Tyler, Tracey (January 3, 2009). "When 'poorhouse' wasn't only an expression". Toronto Star. Toronto. Archived from the original on March 14, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
13. "The Bank Barn and the Industrial Farm at the Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge 1877-1947 - The House of Industry and Industrial Farm" (PDF). Wellington County Museum and Archives. Wellington County, Ontario. June 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved March 13, 2017. The House of Industry and the Bank Barn were built in 1877. The House of Industry and Refuge or "Poor House" provided a home for the "deserving poor" of Wellington County. The Barn and Industrial Farm were an important part of the House. The Farm grew produce and livestock to feed the inmates (residents) and staff at the House. The Farm also provided work or "industry" for the inmates. In the 19th century, Industrial Farms were a vital part of public institutions like hospitals, prisons, asylums and Houses of Refuge.
14. Fergus-Elora News Express (July 5, 2016). "Meet the ghosts of Wellington County's Poor House in Elora". Spectator. Hamilton, Ontario. Archived from the original on July 21, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
15. "Historical Plaques of Wellington County - Plaque 17, The Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge". Historical Plaques of Wellington County. Wayne Cook. 2015. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017. This is the earliest surviving example of an important 19th century institution, the government-supported poorhouse. Erected in 1877, it was the shelter of last resort for the homeless and destitute, who traded spartan accommodations for domestic or agricultural labour. With changing attitudes and the introduction of alternative forms of social assistance, its function shifted to the care of the elderly and infirmed and additions were built to respond to their special needs. Closed in 1971, this building, and its history, illustrate the Victorian roots of the 20th-century social security system in Canada.

Further reading

• Katz, Michael B. (1996). In the Shadow Of the Poorhouse: A Social History Of Welfare In America. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465032105.
• Rothman, David J., (editor). "The Almshouse Experience", in series Poverty U.S.A.: The Historical Record, 1971. ISBN 0-405-03092-4
• Sweeney, Ed. (1927). Poorhouse Sweeney - Life in a County Poorhouse, with a foreword by Theodore Dreiser. New York: Bony & Liveright.
• Wagner, David (2005). The Poorhouse: America's Forgotten Institution. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0742529458.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Poorhouses.

• Jack London's firsthand account of life and poorhouses in the 1902 East End of London
• A study of Kansas poor farms / by Kansas Emergency Relief Committee (1935)