Page 23 - The Wellborn 2R Beef Story_FlipbookV2

“The Poor Farm”

Before post-Depression legislation, poor people in the
United States, especially those who had neither fami-
ly nor friends with the means to help them, were dealt
with primarily through a system that evolved from
seventeenth-century English “poor laws.” An institution
operated by a town or city was known as an “almshouse,”
while a “poorhouse” was a county institution of a similar
nature. In Texas, as in many agricultural states, the “poor
farm” became the county’s version of the poorhouse,
providing a means of care for the destitute in a remote,
agrarian-based setting. On some occasions persons com-
mitting petty offenses were sent to the Poor Farm to find
work.

From 1893 to 1913, our ranch was the host for the Poor
Farm in Clay County, Texas. The Poor Farm provided
shelter and basic needs for its inhabitants. They were
expected to find employment in return for this care. This
structure on the ranch was the jail portion of the Poor
Farm. Poor Farm inhabitants that had broken the law
worked on the ranch and stayed here at night.

This small basic wood
structure, located at the
ranch headquarters, served
as the county’s “Poor Farm”
for those that had committed
criminal offenses. The jail bars
are evident in the narrow
window on the builsing. They
engraved “Clay Co - 1893
- Poor Farm - 1913” in the
wood.
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