| LOCAL
NOTES:
"Please find attached
[copied above] a picture of what I have been told was the Coles
Co. IL poor farm. The building is in much worse shape that
the picture shows, so I thought someone should get a shot before
it is torn down or falls in. "
Stacey
Knight cfslk@ux1.cts.eiu.edu
Some additional info. I found
after sending the picture:
1855
Coles Co. purchased about 100 acres near Farmington from George
Halbrook to use as a
poor farm. p. 56
1916 The cornerstone was laid at the 'Poor Farm', east of
Charleston.
from: Easter-Shick,
Nancy and Bonnie Brooks Clark. 'Round the Square: Life in
Downtown
Charleston, Illinois 1830-1998. Charleston, IL: Easter-Chick
Publishing, 1999.
Stacey Knight
Booth Library
slknight@eiu.edu
This article was in the Journal
Gazette in March of 1916
Tara Wilhoit tarawilhoit@hotmail.com
| OAKWOOD MAN
REFUSES ALMSHOUSE CONTRACT
Committee Accordingly
Gives Award to Next Best Bidder, J.W. Montgomery of
Sidwell
S. C. Sailer of
Oakwood, who was awarded the contract for constructing
the new Coles County Almshouse in Ashmore Township, told
the special committee that he did not care for the
contract. The committee, as a result of such
notification, held a meeting and awarded the contract to
the next best bidder, J. W. Montgomery of Sidwell, the
latter's bid being $20,389.
Sailer's bid was
$19,350.
Contractor Montgomery
informed the committee that he would have the job
completed by September 1, when it will be ready for
occupancy. He will file the bond required of him and
will begin the work of construction just as soon as the
weather will permit. |
"The Coles County
Poorhouse later became Ashmore Estates Psychiatric Hospital. I
am trying to find out when it became this and when it
closed."
Tara Wilhoit
tarawilhoit@hotmail.com
In the October 20, 1916 issue
of the Journal Gazette, was a picture showing both
the side and end views of the building. The caption says: "Front
view of new Coles County Almshouse, now nearing completion,
which is one of the most substantial and up-to-date buildings of
its kind in the state."
Tara Wilhoit
tarawilhoit@hotmail.com
|
| RECORDS:
Burial information and
historical information on the Coles Co. IL poorhouse is held by
the Charleston Public Library, Charleston, IL. The e-mail
address to reach the genealogy librarian is: crngenealogy@yahoo.com
submitted
by: Stacey Knight-Davis, Booth Library, Eastern Illinois
University slknight@eiu.edu
The Illinois Trails -- Coles County --
website has listed
the names from the 1880 Census 
special schedule for "Defective, Dependent and Delinquent
Classes" in the portion titled "Pauper
& Indigent Inhabitants in Institutions, Poor Houses or
Asylums, or Boarded at Public Expense in Private Houses"
On that page is the designation "Coles County Alms
House."
[Scroll down the page to find this list.]
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