Dear Action Line: Years ago, a city employee told me that the old, brick building at 13 Bacus was once the county “Poor House.” It looks like it’s apartments now. Do you know the history of the building? – History Buff
Dear Buff: Thanks to Robert McDaniel for getting the answer on this one.
The answer is: yes.
Dear Action Line: That’s it? No further explanation? Just “yes”? – History Buff
Dear Buff: That’s all you asked. The answer is yes. This was once the main building at the county Poor Farm, and now Action Line knows its history.
But OK, if you insist, here’s more, thanks again to information supplied by McDaniel, former director of the Animas Museum and Durango native who knows stuff and knows how to get answers.
The two-story apartment complex was once a “poor house” on the “poor farm” run by La Plata County. It was built by the county around 1911 for that purpose, Durango newspaper stories say. It was one of just a few brick buildings in the Animas City area.
“The poor can be maintained at a minimum of cost and with agricultural lands in connection, many of the unfortunates can be practically self-supporting,” said a Durango Wage Earner story of Sept. 14, 1911.
There was a poor farm elsewhere in the county before that, and the first superintendent of that poor farm was Joseph Freed Jr., according to 1891-1896 documents with his signature. A “Register of the Poor” listed those who were referred to the Poor Farm, according to an “architectural inventory form” that the city of Durango prepared for the Colorado Cultural Resource Survey in 2003.
The Register of the Poor “showed that the Poor Farm housed individuals from one day to at least four years,” the survey report said. “The list is a sad reminder of the aged, infirmed and debilitated people of La Plata County who had no one to care for them. Many were immigrants, some were quite young (40s and 50s) and others were elderly.”
There was a main, two-story brick building, with wings for men and women on either side, 17 rooms in all. There was a manager as well as “Matron Sal,” who apparently kept track of the residents’ needs. The 24-acre tract featured 7 acres of tillable soil along Junction Creek.
“The building is piped for city water, and electric lights are in every room in the building,” said a Sept. 11, 1911, story in the Durango Herald. County commissioners were involved in setting up the house and farm, and the county had to budget for it because there was a cost to run it.
The 2003 report said, “The Poor Farm was part of the overall care program for the impoverished which included paying for hospital care, money for food, and occasionally a ticket out of town.”
McDaniel relayed a few details supplied by Charlie DiFerdinando at the Animas Museum. The Poor Farm had a goal of being as self-sustaining as possible. In addition to a vegetable garden, they had milk cows, probably chickens, and likely other livestock that provided meat for the residents.
DiFerdinando’s grandfather, father and uncle had land adjacent to the Poor Farm, McDaniel related, so good first-hand information came down through the family. Board member Susan Jones also helped McDaniel in supplying information to Action Line, who just sat at his desk as this work was happening and did nothing.
The Poor Farm operated until 1942, and in 1943 it was purchased for $5,000 by a private owner, William Robison. The Robisons turned the place briefly into the Durango Chick Hatchery and Farm. This was just as the United States entered World War II, although it’s not clear how that affected the Poor Farm.
The land switched hands again in 1946, and several times after that. It is now owned by a couple with a Bayfield address, county records show.
Poor farms were common in rural areas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Poor houses were common in cities. Thankfully, there is no longer a problem with an indigent population, and we no longer have to worry about it here in La Plata County.
Yes, that is bitter irony, readers. One wonders if there are lessons here as we kick unfortunates off the Purple Cliffs land. A poor farm seems problematic in the 2020s, right? Where is the land? Who would manage it? Who would fund it? But does anyone have any better ideas at this point? A hundred years from now, will we still be struggling with this same seemingly unsolvable problem?
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Whom are we kidding with that address? Nobody ever writes letters anymore.
