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Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
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Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
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Seventh Biennial Report of the
Board of State Commissioners of
Public Charities of the
State of Illinois
Presented to the Governor, November 1882


         
         [p. 242-243]
         
         COOK. -
         
         The Almshouse. - We have noted a steady improvement in this
       establishment from the date of our first visit, thirteen years
       ago, which has now culminated in the determination, on the
       part of the commissioners, to erect a new almshouse, to be
       called the Cook County Infirmary. It will consist of a group
       of nine buildings, connected by corridors, as follows: admini-
       stration building, centre building, kitchen and chapel (under
       one roof), dining-room, hospital and four dormitories. These
       buildings, which are now in process of construction, are to
       be of brick, three stories in height, with a basement, and will
       be removed to a distance of one-half mile from the insane
       asylum. They front toward the south, and will cost about one
       hundred and sixty thousand dollars. In view of this new de-
       parture, it is not worth while to make any remarks concerning
       the quarters now occupied by the paupers, except to say that
       they were found in as good order as could be expected, under
       the circumstances. Since our last report, a twelve inch tile
       drain has been laid from the county farm to the north branch
       of the Chicago river, a distance of five miles. A railroad
       has also been built, which connects the institution with the
       city of Chicago and renders it more easily accessible than
       formerly.
         The number of inmates present upon the county farm, when
       visited, was one thousand and seventy-nine, of whom four
       hundred and sixty-nine were in the insane asylum, and six
       hundred and ten in the poorhouse. With an average population
       of eleven hundred, and a total annual expenditure of one
       hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the per capita cost of
       maintenance is about one hundred and forty dollars. In the
       semi-annual report of the superintendent to the county board,
       the daily cost per capita is said to be, in the poorhouse,
       twenty-five cents, but in the insane asylym fifty-four cents.
       This would make the annual cost per capita in the insane
       asylum one hundred and ninety-seven dollars and ten cents,
       which is nearly fourteen dollars a year more than the state
       pays for the maintenance of the insane at Jacksonville, but
       the accommodations and treatment at Jefferson are very in-
       ferior to those furnished by the state.
       
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