A vague memory of the Nuckolls County Poor Farm

They came from different places within Nuckolls County but they had things in common. Most were homeless, poor and often in declining health. Generally they were men, although an occasional woman was in their midst and at least once there were even small children. These were the tenants of a place that is now only a memory-and a vague one at that - the Nuckolls County Farm.

Many counties once had such farms but they are no more. Today we have different ways of caring for the people who once were sent to the county farms.

A few of today's county residents may have heard stories told by another generation about the house that was located one mile east and a quarter of a mile south of the north junction of Highways 14 and 136.

The poor farm was a memory held by only a few county residents when this story first appeared in The Express on Dec. 22, 1983. One of those who remembered the farm was Mrs. Merle Shaw. She told an Express reporter it was in existence at least as early as the first decade of the 20th century. She probably knew for her father,  George Baumbaugh, was the operator of the 160-acre farm from March 1, 1913, until about March 1, 1933.

Until the early 1930s, the farm's residence was a large two-story frame building lacking many of the modern conveniences we now take for granted.  A long porch went the length of the house. A cistern pump was located on the porch. Drinking water was obtained  from a well about 50 feet from the house. The house was divided by a hallway that made a natural  boundary between the operator's living quarters and those of the residents.

The residents, who were able, were responsible for maintaining their own rooms. All the residents ate together in a common dining room. That dining room resembled, on occasion, what it must have been like to feed a threshing crew. (another forgotten memory of what life was once like on the farm) The residents were not required to help with the farm work, but they did help with various household chores, yard work and picking fruit from the farm's extensive orchard.

The operation of the farm was in reality a form of a lease arrangement. Mrs. Shaw said her father paid the county one-third of the crop as rent and a portion of the income from the orchard. The county paid the  operator $1 per day per resident for room and board.

When Baumbaugh took over operation of the farm, there were three people living there, two men and a woman. Residents would come and go making a precise count difficult to determine but it was thought  the usual number was between  six and 10 although at one time there was 15 including a woman and her three children. The family had been deserted by the woman's husband.

In the early 1930s, a modern structure built of brick was erected on the premises. The new structure boasted a furnace, inside plumbing and six residence rooms upstairs and about seven rooms for various uses on the first floor.

After Baumbaugh moved from the farm, Fritz Meyer took over its management but it was not long before the county discontinued operation of the farm. The writer of the original story was not able determine a certain date for the discontinuance, however, Margaret Grummert bought the farm in 1940 which suggested its operation ended that year or earlier. The Grummet family still owned the ground in 1983.

The house stood vacant for many years though just before the 1983 story was written, there had been a movement afoot to turn the house into a retreat house for use by several area Lutheran congregations. However, before that dream was realized, vandals had caused so much damage to the house the decision was made to take it down.

At one time, almost all counties operated county farms, or, as they were often called, "poor farms." The advent of the welfare system and the building of nursing homes changed the way the sick, poor and elderly were cared for and the farms are now only a fading memory.