The Poor House - Saline County Poor Farm - Harrisburg, IL
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 43.119 W 088° 33.106
16S E 363235 N 4175732
After finding the Nomination form, I discovered this is a district. Preserved so we may learn how the idealist tried to solve the problem of the poor back then.
Waymark Code: WMZH49
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 11/12/2018
Views: 0
County of district: Saline County
Location of district: Feaxel St. & Bauman Lane, Harrisburg
Built: 1877
Architectural Style: Italianate
Markers Erected and House Preserved by: Saline County Historical Society and The Saline County Tourism Bureau.
"The historic main façade of the Poor House faces north toward what is today Barnett Street. The area historically associated with the Poor Farm between the house and South Street is now occupied by a housing development. The parking are for the Poor Farm is now located off Feazel Street making the west façade the most visible façade. The Poor House is a 2½ story brick building with a stone foundation and hipped roof with asphalt shingles. a well-matched addition was constructed to the west of the original building in circa 1904 doubling the size of the building. A center chimney is visible along the roofline. Both the north façade and south façade have large porches running almost the length of the building. All windows are wooden 2/2 double hung, except the basement windows and one window on the second story, west façade. All windows have segmented arched lintels and stone sills." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"The Saline County Poor Farm is located on the south end of Harrisburg, Illinois at 1600 Feazel Street. The site originally contained 175 acres, but was sold off until the present 3.46 acres is all that remains of the historic property. The acreage now contains the main brick poor farm house, a storage building and the poor farm cemetery. The Poor House is of a modified Italianate design and was constructed in 1877. The Poor House along with a Storage Building sit on 2.06 acres. The cemetery that is located diagonally across Feazel Street sits on roughly 1.40 acres. The cemetery has over time been called McCormick Cemetery, Pauper Cemetery and Dorrisville Cemetery. The Saline County Poor Farm is a discontiguous district because the cemetery is geographically separated from the poor farm buildings, but both contain their historic significance and integrity." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
Marker Text:
THE POOR HOUSE This house, built in 1877 with an addition in 1904 was the effort of the culture of that era to take care of the poor. As early as 1819, the Illinois General Assembly enacted a Pauper Bill requiring county commissioners to appoint overseers of the poor for each township. Usually, a paupers family received aid for the care of those of the house who could not care for themselves. By 1839 the Almshouse method of public welfare was introduced in which a building would be built on county land and pauper labor would farm it. One person could then oversee the operation. This farm originally containing 175 acres under the Almshouse Law using log buildings for many years until the brick building was constructed. The idealistic notion, that people would gladly work for their subsistence, soon met reality. The poor farm became an orphanage, a jail, an insane asylum, and a place for refugees, i.e. a social dumping ground for the outcast and deplored. There have been at least two occasions in its history when the county considered demolition because of the poor condition of the building. The poor farm represents a method of dealing with social problems during a time when there was very little public investment in social welfare. What started as an effort to help the county poor became another good idea that didn't work. The farm ceased operation sometime after 1950.
Plaque Text:
THE PAUPER HOUSE
this building was erected in 1877 for
the residency of the poor of
Saline County.
The building and its site is listed on
the National Registry of Historical Places.