1842
The State of Iowa approved a law whereby it was to be
the duty of each county to care for the poor.
1857, January,
Des Moines Valley
Whig
The Lee County poor house was situated along the Plank
Road, six miles north of Keokuk. There was a row of
log huts, totaling only six rooms and a small frame
one room house. Four rooms were used to house the
paupers, numbering thirty people. All of these people
were either feeble in mind or body or diseased.
The people in charge of the institution appeared to be
doing all they could do for the inmates, but their
means of accomplishing this were limited. Packing
thirty people, 24 men and 6 women, three of these were
children, into four small rooms - where they must eat,
sleep and wash, did not afford much change of recovery
from their ills. Another problem was the want of
wearing apparel.
The Superintendent received from the county $1.50 per
head a week for boarding, feeding, furnishing wearing
apparel, lights and fuel. The county furnished
necessary bedding.
The Superintendent also had use of the farm,
consisting of 100 acres of not very productive
land.
In order to remedy these conditions, County Judge
Samuel Boyles in 1857, directed the building of a new
poor house, or county home.
The building was 100 feet long and 36 feet wide with
a wing 36 by 50 feet at each end. The cost was
$35,000. (The Whig
1857)
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Writings about the Poor Farm from Different Sources
1866 January 19
Notice is given by the Board of Supervisors that
sealed proposals shall be received, in regard to
letting the poor farm, together with all the
appurtenances and all other property there-to
belonging. It is proposed that the person who rents
the farm shall take charge of all the poor in the poor
house
1866, February 10
The county poor house and farm was rented to Butler
and Smith. They pay $2.50 a year per acre for the
tillable land and board paupers for $2.25 per week.
They take all of the stock and farming utensils
belonging to the poor farm, and pay for it at the
appraised value. A committee of the Board of
Supervisors is to visit the poor house once a week to
see that the lessees comply with the terms of the
contract.
1868 September
Board of Supervisors report of the committee: The
home is situated five miles from Keokuk, on the Lee
County Farm, a tract of 120 acres, 80 of which are
tillable. The house built at a cost of $23,000, is
four stories high, including the basement. Half of
the basement is used as a men’s ward, the other half
is kitchen and wash rooms. Half of the first floor is
occupied by the keeper, and half by female paupers.
The basement is entirely unfit for the purpose of a
ward or dormitory. The furniture is rude and
insufficient. The bedrooms are furnished with a
bedstead and chair. The beds are of loose, coarse
straw, thin, long used and far from clean. There are
no bathrooms in the house. 12 men, 11 women and 3
children are inmates, receive three meals a day, and
rye coffee. The money expended in 1867 for the poor
house amounted to $4,931.57.
1868 October 3
George Stanwood, appointed by the Board to take
general supervision of the poor house and all
applications for relief must be made to him.
1869 August 26
There is a decent walk leading to the house, bordered
by flowers. A year ago the house looked like old
night, there was but one rough and shaggy coat of
plastering. Paint, whitewash and water have worked a
wonderful transformation. The improvements have cost
little more than $500
1878 July 29
A Supervisor and representatives from daily papers
toured the poor house. Met by Mr. Davis,
Superintendent.
The building is long, rambling, three stories high,
with lots of gables, covered with a tin roof and sits
near the road almost in the center of the 260 acre
farm. 63 inmates, 23 of them from the Mt Pleasant
Asylum. It was necessary to enclose a portion of the
yard in the rear with a high, tight board fence. There
are three cells in the basement. When an inmate
becomes obstreperous, he is locked up in a cell and
kept there until he quiets down. This is the only
punishment used. The second floor is being remodeled,
and a dining room for the women placed there, to which
the food will be transported by a dumb waiter, now
being constructed and running from the basement. In
the second floor is a room for a chapel.
1883 February 2
A reporter visited: Accommodations for insane persons
were not contemplated in the plan of the building, so
now inadequate both for poor and insane. Insane males
kept in the basement, entirely underground.
1883 February 21
Grand Jury report: The greatest complaint they heard
among the unfortunate people was want of medical
attention, and it was the sense of the GJ that this
morbid craving should be satisfied, if only by
“expectants.” The inmates number 82, 52 of whom are
lunatics and imbeciles. The heating apparatus, the
ventilation, and the drainage of the building should
receive the earliest possible attention. Other rooms
should be built, as the present basement rooms should
be abandoned for living. Jumble of unfortunate poor,
with the lunatics, is a disgrace.
1888 March 15
34 poor and 43 insane. The county home appeared in
good condition, everything is surprisingly good
order. One girl born at the house, bright, runs
playfully with the children of the Superintendent.
She may be adopted.
1893 December 9
The previous November election was in favor of
building a $7500 addition, to cost no more than $7500.
1896 December 23
Fred Korschgen, Superintendent for more then eleven
years
The city is only faintly visible from the upper
stories of the building. You may see the buildings
and smoke from Dupont Hazardous Powder Works, about a
mile away. The home built of red brick, four stories
high, presents an imposing appearance. At the rear is
a large brick building, which contains the boilers.
There is a slaughter house, and a smoke house, a large
ice house and barns and stables. The building itself
contains 125 rooms. An addition is being planned.
Four years ago a wing was built on the south end,
which was quite a large and important addition. The
county home house stands on a farm of 160 acres.
Mr. Korschgen was keeper of the Fort Madison jail for
two years, before he was chosen for the poor house.
He was also a constable and a deputy sheriff. He is
advised by Dr. Coulter. There are 83 inmates.
1900 January
It cost $12.22 a month for each person, paying
privately. They were also to buy their own clothes.
There are 91 residents, 4 male staff, 2 women staff,
besides the Superintendent and his wife.
Superintendent was paid $500 a year, his wife, $200 a
year. Attendants were earning $20 per month. Dr.
Coulter was the county physician and was paid $175 a
year, out of which he was to provide medicine. He
came out three times a week, unless he was needed
more.
There is a fenced in yard, 60 by 80 feet. Bathtubs
were of iron, so were the beds. Mattresses were of
straw ticking. White sheets, double width, woolen
blankets, comforts and feather pillows were used. Bed
changes weekly or oftener. One patient bed, five
patients had quarters in the basement, in spite of
reports as early as 1866 that this was not a proper
place to live.
1913 Gate
City
In November, 1891, the Board of Supervisors submitted
to the people the proposition to build an addition to
cost not more than $7500. This was done the following
year.
A new foundation was built under the old building and
a wing 68 feet long, in the same style of architecture
was added. A sewer was run to the creek, 649 foot
distance. Water was furnished from five wells and four
cisterns. The water tower, extending high in the air
is in existence at this time. There is an abundance of
water to the building. The building throughout is
furnished with water pipes through which water is sent
for household purposes, drinking, cooking and
cleanliness, both for personal and building. The
inmates have a convenient bath house. They also have
a steam heating plant which was installed when the
addition was built.
There are 110 rooms which are remarkably clean and
homelike, despite such a mixture of inmates, both sane
and insane and considering the limited force that do
all of the work.
There are male inmates in the basement of the main
building. Here are also located the kitchen, dining
room and storage rooms. Two-thirds of the first floor
is devoted to apartments for sane female inmates and
the remainder of that floor is given over to the
Superintendent and his family.
On the second floor the insane females are
accommodated and one-third of the space on this floor
is occupied by the Superintendent and his assistants.
On the third floor is the quarters of the insane
males.
The home is most admirably located and arranged for
the care of the inmates and is maintained at a minimum
cost. Ample barns, smoke house where a sufficient
supply of meat of their own killing is kept. Near the
barn is a hog house which has a cement floor,
adjoining it is the feeding pen. There are other
smaller buildings dotted over the grounds, including a
wash house.
It is partially self supporting through the operation
of its three farms, consisting of 108 acres where the
home stands, the Leighton farm of 80 aces in Jackson
Township and the Taylor farm of 60 acres in Montrose
Township.
1951 April 5
A delegation of visitors were enthused over
improvements made at the institution. Each resident
was given the opportunity to choose the color of paint
to be used in his or her room. The paint up campaign
has worked wonders. Neatness everywhere was
apparent. There were 125 residents. An addition of a
laundry, no longer were there lines filled with
clothes in the basement. A big supply of canned
goods, the canning having been done there. Raised
almost enough potatoes, to feed the county home
population. Some of the residents painted their own
rooms. Inventory totals over $165,000. The average
cost of each resident was cut from $282.17 per year to
$161.46 per year. The average cost per month was
$13.45, as against the 1949 cost of $23.51.
1961 October 3
Workmen on the new Lee Co. Home are working at a rapid
pace to prepare the home for occupancy next October.
1962 October 19
The new Lee Co. Memorial home will be dedicated
October 21. $950,000 in bonds, made possible by
residents of the county. The present home, built in
1847, is over crowded with its present 118. The new
home is capable of housing 160 residents and 18
staff.
Compiled by Sally Youngquist |
