Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2022 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Executive Documents of the State of Minnesota For the Fiscal Year Ending July 31, 1892 INSPECTION OF COUNTY POOR HOUSES. OTTER TAIL COUNTY POORHOUSE was visited March 29, 1892. The house was not in quite as good condition as usual. There was a lack of cleanliness in the rooms of the paupers to which the attention of the matron was called. There was con- siderable excuse for the condition of the house on account of its overcrowded condition. There are no sitting rooms for the paupers, who are compelled to sit in their sleeping rooms, and under these circumstances thorough cleanliness is not practicable. Having learned that the county commiss- ioners were in session, and that they were considering the advisability of building an addition to the poor house, I went before the board and represented to them the inadvisa- bility of enlarging the present poorhouse. The following extract from the Fergus Falls Daily Journal of April 1, 1892, will indicate the advice given to the county commissioners. Secretary H. H. Hart, of the state board of charities and corrections, made a little speech to the county commiss- ioners during their recent session, in regard to the Otter Tail county poorhouse, whoch contained so many good points that part of it is given below. Speaking of the present poorhouse he said: "It is altogether inadequate to the needs of the county, and each year will make it more so; today there are six- teen inmates; yesterday there were seventeen. Sometimes there are more than twenty. There is not room for half that number. In one room 6 x 10 feet I found three men this morning; there is no other place for them and they are forced to sit there in the daytime as well as sleep there at night. There is no bath room, or facilities for bath- ing, and it is impossible to keep them clean. There is no general sitting room except a hall. The men have to smoke in the bedrooms, where the air should be free from any such taint. The danger of fire is great, as it must be in such crowded quarters. The house is dirty, as it must be. There is no possibility of cleanliness or wholesome- ness. There can be no comfort among the inmates. There is no place for the sick to be cared for; they cannot be kept quiet and properly treated. There is no possibility of separating the sexes, and such a condition of things is almost sure, sooner or later, to lead to a scandal. There is among the inmates one simple-minded girl who has had one child; there may be a repetition of this at your poorhouse; you cannot allow such a state of affairs. it costs $150 per year to support a pauper child, and $150 is interest on a pretty large sum of money. I found in one room, on my visit, two women sick and in bed; three women sleep in that room. It is not large enough for one. Again, the building was built cheaply and poorly; the floors are bad and the plastering poor; it is almost impossible to keep the rooms at a proper temperature for health and comfort. It is hard to keep such a place in order. I am convinced the present overseer is a faithful man and does all he possibly can, but it is a physical impossiblity to have things as they should be. On the walls you will see many marks where the inmates have killed bed-bugs; you can readily imagine what countless thousands have not been killed. In an old house like that it is impossible to eradicate them. The beds and furniture are poor and the bed clothes not what they should be. "I understand you have under consideration here the town system of caring for the poor. Even if you do that, there will be no doubt about your need of a county house. In Rice county they have the town system. The county cares for many of the poor in a house and the expense is charged back to the township from which they come. The same sys- tem is in vogue in Hennepin. Again there are cases which no town can care for because of lack of proper accommo- dations; there are paupers who have disagreeable diseases; there are bedridden paupers; others whose personal habits are unpleasant. Such as these must be sent to a central house, and let each town pay for its own. You have no hos- pital in this county. Without a poor house you would find it a crying need to have one. Thus in Polk county where the town system is used, they have bought a building in Crookston and fitted it up for a hospital. It was almost a neccesity and you would find it so here. "I have long known of the unsatisfactory condition of this poorhouse, but I have hesitated to say much about it, for I was afraid you would try to remedy the matter by putting up an addition. I learn that you have in contem- plation this spring that very thing. If you do build such an addition I am very certain you will regret it. The com- missioners in Winona county and Steele county did it, and wish to-day it had not been done. The trouble is that the building as it stands is inconvenient and unfitted for its purpose. An addition merely gives more room, but does not remedy the unfitness. With it the old house must still be used. As it stands now a fire there would be almost sure to roast some of the inmates; with an addition it would be just as inflammable; it would become as dirty as the pre- sent house is; the rooms would be as small as they are now, the overseer would have no suitable accommodations for his family. You might put in a bath room, laundry and bakery - they wash in the kitchen now - and thus cure some of the evils; but the old house is incurable. "Now I would suggest that you do nothing more than patch up the old house, but appoint committees and go to work on something better. Look ahead at least ten years and get an idea of what Otter Tail county will need then with its fifty or sixty thousand people, and begin planning for that time. A proper poor house needs a central part for the over- seer and his family, a wing for the female paupers, a wing for the male paupers and a kitchen and domestic part. It should be built of brick, with brick partitions, have broad staircases made as near fire-proof as possible. In short, it should be a solid, substantial, permanent build- ing. Get plans for such a building and then decide how much of it you need for present requirements, and build that part of it as soon as possible. Perhaps you may decide to keep the present house for the men's quarters, and erect the other part of the new building. You should certainly build new quarters for the overseer. He lives now in an 8 x 12 apartment and has very little privacy. You certainly need a kitchen, a dining room for both sexes and suitable rooms for laundry, bath room, etc. Find out how much this part of the new building will cost and make your tax levy to pay for it and no more; the rest will come later. What you need ought to be built for $10,000, I should say. The best poor- house in the State is in Goodhue county. They began three years ago and now have one that will accommodate thirty paupers at a total cost of $11,000. I have been fearful for years that something disagreeable would happen at this in- stitution of yours - a fire, a scandal, or something that you would not like. Ultimately the old building must be abandoned; it is now good for nothing better than a barn. As to location it is not neccessary that I should advise you. You are the best judges. Your present location is easy of access from the city and all right; it is not the best farm in the county, but it is a pretty fair farm. If you go elsewhere, I would not locate it much further away from the city than the present one. "Lastly, lest you think it all impertinence for me to come here, an outsider, and talk with you about these mat- ters, I may say that the law requires the state board of charities and corrections to examine all such public in- stitutions as this and report. Now I would much rather report to you than to the public, and that is partly why I am here. I understand fully that you gentlemen are not responsible for the present disgraceful state of things; but I must add that if you should build a frame addition to the present house and rest content with that you would be responsible for it; for the time, I believe, has come when you can do something better than that. The law says, further, that when a new building of public use like this is built our board must confer with and give all the aid and advice to the authorities that we can; and that those who build it must consult our board; but after this is done you are at liberty to take our advice or not as you choose, and no harm done. In case you wish to look into this matter I will gladly go anywhere with you and get any plans that I can for you; you can command my time and services to any extent." The commissioners were evidently very favorably im- pressed with Secretary Hart's remarks. Commissioner Pederson inquired about plans of model poorhouses. Mr. Hart assured him that the only one in this State, except the large one in Ramsey county, which could be called a model poorhouse, was the one in Goodhue county. He said Wisconsin had many good ones. He pointed out the fact that the west had too few poor people yet to have made the sub- ject of so much importance as it is further east. In Indianapolis, for instance, the poorhouse contains 300 in- mates; while in all Minnesota a year or so ago, there were only 359. After some further discussions of plans and cost the commissioners adjourned to visit the poorhouse in the afternoon in company with Secretary Hart. ==========================================================================