Allen County Poor Farm example essay topic

367 words
The Allen County Poor Farm The Allen County Poor farm was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936. During the New Deal era, seven agencies were involved with public works construction projects, the WPA being one of them. The general idea behind the Works Progress Administration was to put as many people to work as possible. The Allen County Poor Farm was publicly owned and it provided a useful service to the county.

The house provided a much needed improvement to the old wooden frame structure that had been used to shelter the indigent. During the Depression, Allen County was in debt and eventually came under a court order to spend no funds except for essential county services. It was during this period that the county obtained WPA funding to build a new "county house". The old one had gotten in such a poor state of repair that it would have cost just as much to fix it up as it would for the county's share of the WPA project. The original cost of the house was probably $15,000 plus another one-fourth from the county. The fact that the Poor House was not a school built with WPA funds and was the second most expensive project in the county is significant in and of itself.

The Allen County Poor Farm was one of the last poor houses built by a local government in Kentucky. The Poor Farm was reported to have no inmates in 1952 and was sold to a private individual in 1957. The county courts have the duty of providing for the support of the paupers of their respective counties. They have the authority to erect, maintain, and control poorhouses and to appoint one or more commissioners of the poorhouse with the power to cause by coercion any able-bodied poor person kept at the poorhouse to labor. Admission to the poorhouse is by order of the county court or the county judge. Beggars may be sent to and kept at the poorhouse.

It is unlawful to bring paupers into the county of from one county into another.