Denver City and County Farm

Denver City and County Farm
Opened	1898
Closed	1952
Current Status	Demolished
Building Style	Single Building
Location	Henderson, CO

History

In 1898, the City of Denver purchased 350 acres of what is now the regional park to serve as an area to send indigent patients from Denver General hospital, creating what would become known as the Denver Poor Farm. Since no public welfare system existed until 1933, Denver officials used the Denver Poor Farm for five decades to relocate some of the city’s less fortunate residents. With a farm, infirmary and residential housing, the land was meant to help provide a place for individuals to work and improve their lives.

Despite those intentions, the Denver Poor Farm saw its fair share of troubles for decades, marked by unsanitary conditions, crime and a 1911 outbreak of tuberculosis. According to Albert Foos, a Brighton resident who grew up at the farm with his family, the Denver Poor Farm took a turn for the better when Harold Lascelles, a former agricultural extension agent, took over as farm superintendent in 1937. Lascelles helped transform the Denver Poor Farm into a self-sustaining and at times even profitable farm, which included cattle, pigs, chickens, gardens and one of the finest dairy herds in the state. Despite the turnaround, the Denver Poor Farm was finally dismantled in 1952, when Denver mayor J. Quigg Newton ordered its closure. The order was met with controversy, as local residents and politicians speculated its potential future and uses for helping community members in need. By 1959, the Denver Poor Farm was sold to Adams County under the conditions that it be used as a golf course, fairgrounds, race track and recreational park,