Postcard Caption says: Rock County Poor Farm, Luverne, Minn.

Read about the Centennial Scholars Lecture, 'Strangers at Our Gate: A Social History of Hospitality at a County Poor Farm.' -- a multi-media presentation at Concordia College -- which gave an in-depth look at the Lac qui  Parle County poor farm from 1930-1951. The researchers were Dr. Joan Kopperud and Dr. Harvey Stalwick.

"I just came in contact with your website and it is of great interest to me, as I was born and raised at the Houston County Poorfarm in Minnesota in 1932.  My parents, Cyrilla (Klug) and Valentine Esch,  came there as managers in March of 1932 and I was born in October.   They  were a  young couple, (ages 22 and 27) and already parents of two children, Myles and Margie, ages 1 and 2 1/2." 
     Alice (Esch) Miller e-mail:  milcal@calmn.net

"I remember (at age 65) the poorhouse that used to be in my home town of Hopkins, Minnesota (suburb of Minneapolis) [Hennepin County]. I never was in the place but when we drove along the highway that fronted the institution we would frequently see an elderly man or woman walking along the highway and my parents would comment "must besomeone from the poorhouse". I remember feeling sorry for the people who lived there who were too poor to have their own home or a family to take care of them."
     Lois Willard  jon.and.lois.willand@worldnet.att.net 

Click on the Logo above to go to the excellent webpage   
published by Minnesota Public Radio
to accompany the documentary
which aired on July 29, 2002

http://www.mnhs.org/library/search/vrdb/bsearch.html
Ramsey County Poor Farm -- Photo Search
(Click on Visual Resources Database on the left to get a new search screen; enter: Ramsey County Poor Farm; click Search)

The Freeborn  Co. (MN) Historical Museum library has in its collection an original record book from the County Poor Farm.
Also, in the cemetery transcripts done by the Freeborn County Genealogical Society there are excerpts from the commissioner's meeting minutes of people buried by the county. (However, we are uncertain whether these were poorhouse inmates or indigent people living outside the poorhouse  who required burial at county expense.) These excerpts start in the 1880s and go to the early- mid-1900s. The cemetery transcripts have not been published. These records are available for researchers to use at the historical society's library.

"POOR FARM RECORDS
Most Minnesota counties operated poor farms. Some farms date from the 1860s (although most began later in the 19th century or early in the 20th) and continued up to the 1950s. Some became nursing homes or tuberculosis sanatoriums, usually no longer operated by the county. Records of several poor farms are in county records in the State Archives. These usually contain registers of residents ("inmates") that give date and cause of application and some or all of the following information: applicant's name, nationality, marital status, age, birthplace, length of residency in state or county, occupation, health status, and death date. A Historical Directory of Minnesota Homes for the Aged, by Ethel McClure (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1968), HV1468.M65 M24, may be useful in identifying records of poor farms and municipally owned nursing homes."

Above quote from http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/personal/guide.html page off the Minnesota Historical Society website

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Ramsey County's Forgotten Cemetery  
Alphabetic listing of the almost 3000 burials in the County Potter's Field. Introduction includes a brief history of how the poor farm cemetery began and ended, with photos. M-321, ISBN 0-915709-65-1, 80 pp., photos, paperback. 
from Park Genealogical Books

In the cemetery transcripts done by the Freeborn County Genealogical Society there are excerpts from the commissioner's meeting minutes of people buried by the county. (However, we are uncertain whether these were poorhouse inmates or indigent people living outside the poorhouse  who required burial at county expense.) These excerpts start in the 1880s and go to the early- mid-1900s. The cemetery transcripts have not been published. These records are available for researchers to use at the historical society's library.