Portal:Featured Article Of The Week
Featured Article Of The Week
Harris County Poor Farm
In 1882, Harris County Commissioners Court ordered an assessment of the feasibility of a Poor Farm. By November 1882, the first Harris County Poor Farm and County Hospital was opened near White Oak Bayou. As the County grew, the Poor Farm was relocated to property that is now part of West University. At this location, Harris County opened the first cemetery designated for paupers. In 1917 Commissioners Court decided to change the name of the Harris County Poor Farm to the Harris County Home.20 However, the name change did not catch on, and this location continued to be called the Poor Farm.
It was during 1919 that Harris County Commissioners began to consider moving the Harris County Home and Cemetery to a new location. The County purchased 100 acres on Beaumont Highway and Oates Road in July 1921 (the Beaumont Highway was then known as Crosby Road) from E. R. and Alice Jones. When the new location opened, the name of The Harris County Home was changed to The Harris County Home for the Aged. Throughout Commissioner Court Minutes and other documents from the early 1920s, the Home for the Aged would still be referred to by such names as the County Home, the County Old Folks Home, and other variations. In June of 1929, the Commissioners Court determined that the Juvenile Probation Department would administer the Harris County Home for the Aged. Click here for more...
