Pulaski County Poor Farm Resident's Building. Picture by Laura Huffman, Summer 2009The resident's building of the Poor Farm is still standing, although vacant. After the Poor Farm was disbanded, the last Superintendent, Frank Farris, purchased the property from Pulaski County.
The Poor Farm was in operation from about 1874 until 1957. 83 years of operation farming and providing aid to Pulaski County's less fortunate. At one time the farm had considerable acreage, 200+ acres that needed to be tended, cultivated, and the crops turned into useful items for the residents and the caretakers family.
While the Poor Farm was in operation, the caretaker and his family lived in separate quarters nearby, although the exact location of the caretakers house has not yet been determined.
Frank moved his family into the larger home, the resident's building and made a few modifications. The second story veranda was removed sometime after 1987. A new screen door with the initial "F" stamped the building as belonging to the Farris Family. Frank and his second wife, Sandy, made this building their home until his death in March of 2007. Frank's widow, Sandy still has belongings in the house and still stops by the place every day to feed the stray cats that have been dumped in the area.
There are some outbuildings on the land, whose age makes one wonder if these buildings were on the property when it was still on the property.
One of Frank and Sandy's granddaughters told me that she would spend summers there as a child and loved playing on the property. She mentioned that they would play near the cemetery and one can imagine that the former residents who are buried there would have enjoyed the company and the sound of children's laughter.
Her grandfather did not talk much about the history of the home, just said that it was a place where people used to live. Maybe he was trying to save his grandchildren from thinking about some of the sad, sometimes tragic stories, that had taken place here. Maybe he did not really want to discuss it, much like a combat veteran does not wish to speak of the action that they had seen. Or maybe he just simply wanted the building to simply become a home for he and his family and not what it used to be.
The Poor Farm was in operation from about 1874 until 1957. 83 years of operation farming and providing aid to Pulaski County's less fortunate. At one time the farm had considerable acreage, 200+ acres that needed to be tended, cultivated, and the crops turned into useful items for the residents and the caretakers family.
While the Poor Farm was in operation, the caretaker and his family lived in separate quarters nearby, although the exact location of the caretakers house has not yet been determined.
Frank moved his family into the larger home, the resident's building and made a few modifications. The second story veranda was removed sometime after 1987. A new screen door with the initial "F" stamped the building as belonging to the Farris Family. Frank and his second wife, Sandy, made this building their home until his death in March of 2007. Frank's widow, Sandy still has belongings in the house and still stops by the place every day to feed the stray cats that have been dumped in the area.
There are some outbuildings on the land, whose age makes one wonder if these buildings were on the property when it was still on the property.
One of Frank and Sandy's granddaughters told me that she would spend summers there as a child and loved playing on the property. She mentioned that they would play near the cemetery and one can imagine that the former residents who are buried there would have enjoyed the company and the sound of children's laughter.
Her grandfather did not talk much about the history of the home, just said that it was a place where people used to live. Maybe he was trying to save his grandchildren from thinking about some of the sad, sometimes tragic stories, that had taken place here. Maybe he did not really want to discuss it, much like a combat veteran does not wish to speak of the action that they had seen. Or maybe he just simply wanted the building to simply become a home for he and his family and not what it used to be.
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