The last line of defense

GREEN BAY – In a time before social welfare programs and care facilities, county-run poor farms were the last line of defense when individuals were unable to provide their own basic needs.

Also known as almshouses, the poor houses were tax-supported facilities assisted by a farm in which residents were required to work, if able, in the house or fields in exchange for their room and board.

The facilities were operated under the director of one or more elected officials.

“Up to 1856, several towns cared for their own poor and found it a heavy responsibility and expense, but on March 12, 1856, the board of supervisors decided to abolish this distinction and to make the poor a county charge. The United States government was petitioned to sell private claim 18, on the east side of Fox River, for a poor farm. This property was a part of Camp Smith, and was originally owned by Judge Jacques Porlier. On it stood the old Protestant Episcopal mission house, which the county board hoped to utilize temporarily, but at the November meeting of 1856 the commissioners for the poor reported that they had used their best endeavors to secure the property without success,” Deborah B.

Martin wrote in the 1913 History of Brown County Past and Present.

“At the March meeting of 1857, the committee in charge of the county house brought before the board the following offers of land for this purpose: A site on the Fox River, six miles above De Pere, offered by Daniel Whitney for $10 per acre; James Boyd, a farm of 120 acres for $6,000; Paul Fox, one of 129 acres, $2,500; Dr. Israel Green’s farm in Ashwaubenon, 140 acres, $5,000; and H. S. Baird’s farm of 120 acres for $1,500.”

In May 1857, the county board authorized the purchase of 112 acres belonging to David P. Saunders for $1,600.

“The property was on the regularly-traveled road to Bay Settlement — the lower road which followed the line of the Bay Shore,” Martin wrote.

A house was constructed on the property to accommodate those individuals in need.

“The land was good and well adapted to farming purposes and in the course of 10 years was reported as being nearly self-supporting from the fine crops raised there,” Martin added.

In June 1874, the Brown County Committee on Poor House brought forward a recommendation to replace the existing poor house.

“The poor house is in bad repair, hardly tenantable, in a leaky condition, and we would recommend a new house to be built at once; being of the opinion that money spent on the old house is money thrown away,” the committee reported.

Bids were opened later that month and the home was completed by the following spring.

“One of the best features of the new poor house is the provision made for the care of the unfortunate insane who have heretofore been confined in the county jail for lack of other suitable place,” the Press-Gazette stated in August 1875.

The old facility was sold to the highest bidder and removed from the property.

The destitute and those with mental health issues were housed here together until 1881 when the county constructed the “Brown County Insane Asylum.”

In June 1881, a special committee was formed to adopt plans, enter into a contract and supervise the construction of a building “not to exceed $1,500.”

The committee received seven bids, with the lowest coming in at $1,955, for which the county provided the needed funding.
The new building was completed in December 1881.

In September 1933, the county board held a special meeting to discuss obtaining a loan or grant through the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works for a new facility.

Continued next week