Saline County Poor Farm

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Saline County Poor Farm
Opened 1877
Closed 1952
Current Status Preserved
Building Style Single Building
Location Harrisburg, IL
Alternate Names
  • Saline County Almshouse




History[edit]

Built in 1877 with an addition in 1904 was the effort of the culture of that era to take care of the poor. 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 farm ceased operation sometime after 1950.