Coös County Farm
| Coös County Poor Farm | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | 1866 |
| Current Status | Demolished |
| Building Style | Single Building |
| Location | West Stewartstown, NH |
| Alternate Names |
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History[edit]
In November 1866, Coös County purchased the Isiah Pickard farm on the banks of the Connecticut River to establish the county’s poor farm, using the existing farmhouse buildings to house the poor, insane, prisoners. In 1867, a three-story addition to the original farmhouse was completed to create the Almshouse, with the capacity for 100-120 people.
The poor farm sat on 575 acres, land that provided work and food for the inmates. The Superintendent’s residence, Almshouse, and the building used for the insane were connected and form a long row of wooden buildings. Various barns, carriage houses, and agricultural outbuildings scattered the farmland.
The Almshouse eventually grew to four-stories, with the east half being occupied by women and west by men. There were separate dining rooms for each sex, and a large women’s sitting room, which was also used as an assembly room for religious meetings. There was also a school room for children, though reports state that any orphans were eventually transferred to the Orphan’s Home at Franklin.
The county’s insane were kept in a separate building, west of the Almshouse. The building was one-story, long, “old and wholly unfit for the confinement of the insane,” said a report in 1889. The ward contained 14 small rooms or cells, some of which are only 5 ft x 8 ft and 9 ft high. “The county should provide better quarters, especially for the better class of its insane. These rooms are suitable, perhaps, for the confinement of some of the worst patients that come to an institution of this character, but they do not possess the conditions necessary to health or comfort.” A later report in 1891 stated, “The old building in which the violent insane have been confined for several years, still remains in practically the same condition as heretofore. It is an entirely worthless building.” Finally, in 1899 a new building was erected for the county’s insane. There were 24 rooms on the first and second floors and four additional rooms in an attic that “might be used in case of necessity.” The building was connected to the Almshouse by a covered walkway.
In 1901, a report noted the poor farm was severely understaffed and struggling to provide care for its 77 inmates. Two assistants helped the Superintendent, one was to look after the prisoners while the other looked after the farm. There was one nightwatchman. A matron and her two female assistants were responsible for the female population on the farm. In the insane department, one of the female patients who was “subject to periodical attacks of acute mania but perfectly sane in the intervals” had charge of the other female patients. It was noted that in the men’s insane building, one male patient “who is at times very dangerous, sometimes taking an axe and threatening every one, while at other times he is perfectly harmless…should be closely watched all the time in a way that is almost impossible to manage in a county institution.”
By 1911, all of the insane patients had been transferred to the State Hospital at Concord, and the building formerly used for the insane now housed the male poor. The House of Corrections, a one story building and completely separate from the main Almshouse buildings, kept male prisoners in its eight cells. Female prisoners were kept in the Almshouse.
In 1930, new hospital was built. The first and second floors were used as a residential facility for the poor and the top floor provided a 35-bed general hospital.
By the 1970s, the hospital operation was phased out and the County converted the building into an 82-bed intermediate care facility. The 1930s hospital building is still used and is now known as Coös County Nursing Hospital. Next door is the Coös County Department of Corrections. None of the original wooden buildings stand today.
Images of Coös County Farm[edit]
Coös County Almshouse, 1889.
Coös County Poor Farm, from left to right: barns, Superintendent's home, Almshouse, Building for Insane, 1900.
Coös County House of Correction, 1900.
Another view of the poor farm, 1900.
Almshouse dining room, 1900.
Dormitory in House of Correction, 1900.
Jail cells in House of Correction, 1900.
Coös County Hospital, the original 1930s building, present day.
Monument at the Coös County Almshouse Cemetery.
