Johnson County Supervisors consider renovations to Poor Farm

JOHNSON COUNTY - West of Iowa City, just off Melrose Avenue and among rows of corn, sits a collection of faded white buildings.

While just a cluster of old farm buildings to the average passer-by, the site's significant and sometimes haunting history dates back close to 160 years.

From roughly 1855 through as late as the 1970s, hundreds of county residents of the Johnson County Poor Farm and Asylum lived on the property, grew crops in the nearby fields and were buried in the recently rediscovered cemetery several hundred feet to the south.

With members of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors in discussion with area not-for-profits to bring a community garden back to the historically registered property, the poor farm is slowly returning to its roots.

'That's bringing it full circle, bringing it back to what it was,” said Alexandra Drehman, executive director and curator with the Johnson County Historical Society. 'There's very few of these poor farms left, especially one of this quality.”

The board also is contemplating renovations to the aging buildings, adding educational elements to the farm and establishing a trailhead to connect to Iowa City's trail system - all on the land that once housed the county's first official mental health institute.

Terrence Neuzil, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, said while saving the existing buildings is the first goal, the main objective includes much more.

'As we get into visions and we go beyond just the triage ...

that's when we can dream a little bit,” he said after a Wednesday tour of the poor farm that brought out local elected officials, historians and members of various area not-for-profits.

Modern mental health

In 19th century America, medical professionals struggled to find a more cost-effective alternative to in-home care for people deemed mentally or financially unable to care for themselves.

The solution for many states, including Iowa, came in the form of county-run institutes to provide housing, supervision and counseling.

Johnson County's Poor Farm and Asylum opened around 1855 - the still-standing asylum building opened in 1861 - with the goal of providing a more dignified and humane treatment for the poor and mentally disabled. Property chosen for the poor farm was located west of Iowa City, in an area that was still largely rural.

Tenants of the poor farm and asylum ran the gamut of backgrounds, including veterans, orphans, the homeless, individuals dealing with addiction and the mentally disabled.

'All types of people ended up there,” Drehman said. 'It was the beginning of mental health care in America ...,

care for people that didn't have anywhere else to go.”

Coinciding with patient care and counseling was the farm, which allowed residents the ability to grow crops in the gardens, harvest fruit in the orchard, milk cows in the dairy barn and raise beef cattle, hogs and chickens in various outbuildings.

The result was a self-sufficient institution, said Leah Rogers, with Iowa City's Tallgrass Historians.

'It was quite an operation, so to speak,” Rogers said.

Although it was deemed a better health care service than its predecessor - when the indigent or mentally disabled were housed alongside criminals in prisons - the poor farms still fell far short of today's mental health care standards.

The 1861 asylum building still bears the haunting reminders of life in the poor farm asylum - ineligible cursive writing and hatch mark calendars linger, carved into the walls of the building's 16 cells. Each cell is closed off behind wooden bars, and a single wood burning stove sits in the middle of the long corridor.

'The original asylum was not a pleasant place to live, It was what they thought was best at the time based on what they knew and how they could handle it,” Rogers said. 'It was kind of the state of mental health at that time. As it evolved that became obsolete.”

In 1886 the County Home building, a three-wing brick facility, was constructed and became home for poor farm residents for the next 80 years.

decline

Even more Americans found themselves turning to poor farms for support when countless farmers lost their entire livelihoods in the economic bust of the 1930s.

'Particularly during the Great Depression, when people lost their farms, everybody was in pretty dire straits. (The poor farm) was the social blanket that helped people survive,” Rogers said.

However, with the new social service programs that followed, including welfare, food stamps and social security, many poor Americans were able to sustain themselves without the need to live at the poor farms.

'Through time that aspect of the county home became obsolete, it evolved into a system where you would hope to be able to provide enough services through counseling and medications and other programs that people could stay out of facilities and live on their own, but also get the help they needed,” Rogers said.

In 1964 the poor farm was again in need of an upgrade to stay in step with modern health care and the County Home building was demolished to make way for a new $795,000 county home building at 4515 Melrose Ave.

Agriculture operations at the poor farm slowly were phased out through the mid-1970s until the only farming that now takes place is the more than 100 acres being rented out by the county as farmland.

By 1988, the new facility became privatized and today operates as Chatham Oaks, which still provides residential and supported community living to those with mental disabilities.

eye-opening experience

In 1963, University of Iowa undergraduate students John Huston, Don Roberts and a third UI student embarked on a multimedia photography project of the Johnson County Poor Farm and Asylum.

With Huston's father the head of the UI's Department of Psychiatry at the time, the three students found access to the poor farm and its inhabitants with relative ease. That said, the trio wasn't allowed to photograph the County Home building wing dedicated to individuals with mental disabilities, nor its residents.

Armed with a 35 mm Minolta camera and a single, fixed 50 mm lens, Huston set out to document life at the poor farm.

'None of it bothered me, (but) I think Don was a little apprehensive at first because he hadn't seen anything like that before,” Huston, who now lives in St. Louis, recalled the fall and winter months they spent visiting the poor farm. 'We went ahead anyway and shot lots of stills.”

Huston recalled witnessing mixed emotions among county home building residents, from depression and isolation to contentment and a sense of family.

'It came alive when they got together,” Huston said. 'There were good times.”

But Roberts, who lives in Iowa City, did note the loneliness some residents expressed.

'At first it was pretty disconcerting and more than a little sad,” he said.

Huston admitted he viewed the photos as little more than a simple class project at the time, but said his outlook has changed over the years.

'I just think I came away with a sense of gratitude that I was able to photograph out there. I didn't realize how important those photographs would be,” Huston said. 'When you're in the heat of the battle or the heat of it you don't really think of it, you're just doing it. The emotions come later.”

The photos captured, some of which can be viewed at http://smgs.us/3jtv, provide a look into the lives of poor farm residents.

Community garden, building restoration

Plans announced earlier this year by Goodwill of the Heartland officials detailed a desire to create a roughly two-acre community garden on the poor farm grounds as a place for people with disabilities to work and learn about agriculture.

However, the project was scrapped as it faced state and federal changes banning segregated work environments for individuals with disabilities.

'Organizations like Goodwill are making changes, and we didn't feel like our idea of the farm would meet that test of the fully integrated setting,” said Pat Airy, president and chief executive officer of Goodwill of the Heartland, 'We're really disappointed, we were really excited about it.”

But the idea has lived on and the county is in the midst of discussions with officials with the Coralville Ecumenical Food Pantry and Table to Table food rescue organization to bring a community garden to the site.

'It looks really promising,” said Bob Andrlik, Table to Table executive director in Iowa City. 'The prospect of getting eventually a two-acre plot growing food and having a learning center aspect of it as well is really exciting.”

John Boller, executive director with the Coralville pantry, said the garden not only would provide low-income residents with fresh produce but also would offer an opportunity to learn about growing their own crops.

'It seems like a great fit with the history of that property,” he said.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors dedicated about $75,000 this fiscal year to maintenance and renovation projects on the poor farm. Last year about $26,000 was spent on reparations to the property.

Funding for building reparations has come largely from rental fees to the county from JCS Family Farms, which farms about 120 acres of county-owned property near the farm.

The county received about $40,000 this year in rent payments for the property.

Using a recently awarded Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area grant for $4,800 and additional county funds and in-kind contributions, officials plan to install five interpretive panels on the poor farm grounds to educate the public on the site's history.

The consensus among the supervisors is to restore the existing buildings, add trail elements and historic signs, and include some form of community farming.

'Long-term I'd like to see the farm buildings restored and put back intact and make it kind of a museum of sorts,” Supervisor Pat Harney said. 'I think it's a jewel in it's own, it's a property that's been there for years.”

But board member opinions begin to vary when it comes to plans for the property.

Supervisor Rod Sullivan said he would like to see development of low-income housing near the poor farm, which he said would further return the property to its original service.

'It wasn't just the Johnson County farm, it was the Johnson County poor farm and I think we have to keep that in mind. Why did it exist? It existed to help low-income folks,” he said.

Supervisor Janelle Rettig said she isn't necessarily opposed to exploring affordable housing options, but said she is wary of losing the publicly owned land surrounding the farm.

'I personally would be very hesitant to selling off portions of the poor farm or allowing development there,” she said. 'This has always been the people's farm and I would like it to remain the people's farm.”

Supervisor John Etheredge said he would rather not get too specific about long-term county plans, but said the more farming that can remain on the property, the better.

'I think that's just a really neat opportunity, and I am very supportive of trying to keep that aspect of the farm, the farming aspect, on the property,” he said.

FYI: Saving history

' What: 'Sustainability Through Historic Salvage,” a daylong symposium that will focus on historic architectural salvage

' When: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 8

' Where: Art Building West, University of Iowa, 141 N. Riverside Dr., Iowa City

' Cost: Free, but registration is required

' For more information: http://smgs.us/3jtx, conferences@uiowa.edu, (319) 335-4141