History Spotlight

 

 

 

Early Poor Laws in Michigan

 

Under Michigan’s Northwest Territory Act of 1790, each county was divided into townships, and each township had an Overseer of the Poor. The Overseer’s responsibility was to inquire about poor families and their circumstances in his jurisdiction, report to the Justice of the Peace those likely to become a public charge, and to provide “proper and reasonable relief” to them.

 

When Michigan was organized as a separate Territory in 1805, the “Act for the Relief of the Poor” was passed that entitled the Overseers to contract out the keeping of the poor to the lowest bidder, not to exceed 25 cents per day.  By 1818, poor relief also provided for the apprenticeship of poor children. 

 

Treatment of the poor was addressed extensively in the 1827 laws of the Territory of Michigan.  Issues covered in the 10 page document of the “Act for the Relief and Settlement of the Poor” included bastardy and the return of slaves to their masters. 

 

In 1830, Michigan’s Territory laws required county boards of supervisors to erect poorhouses to provide relief to the poor and distressed families, and by the year 1837, the newly formed State of Michigan required each county to comply with the constitutions requirement to provide for the health and welfare of the poor in its community.  That year, Macomb County’s Board of Supervisors authorized the purchase of 40 acres of land for the use of the poor, and the Superintendants of the Poor purchased an additional 94 acres from the Atwood’s in 1839 for $914. 

 

According to senate documents of 1849, the first Macomb County Poor House was built in 1839 and 1840 for an unknown cost, with 60 acres of the land being improved.  The records indicated that the prior “keepers of the paupers were let by contract by their predecessors.” 

 

A key issue in 1848 was the inadequacies of Michigan’s Poor Farms to deal with the mentally ill often housed there. Although Michigan commissioned an insane asylum to treat the mentally ill that year, it wasn’t until 1859 that the Michigan Asylum for the Insane in Kalamazoo opened its doors for inmates.  Paupers were admitted by order of county Superintendants of the Poor, to whom their expenses were billed.  Macomb’s inmates that were considered violently insane were sent to Kalamazoo, where over-crowding was such an issue that the county occasionally had to bring one inmate back from the asylum in order to trade places with one who was more violent than the current patient who resided there.

 

In 1871, Michigan created the State Public School for children between the ages of 4 and 16.  The institute opened on May 21, 1874 in Coldwater, Michigan, and county Superintendants of the Poor were required to send all neglected dependant children there. Its purpose was to provide for and educate these children until a good home could be found for them.  Children aged 3 and under were indentured out to private homes until the age of 21 when an opportunity became available.  In the year 1886, only one child was indentured out from Macomb County.

 

Who went to the Poor House?  A myriad of persons were housed there, with the poor, disabled, and elderly being the primary residents.  Another group increasing in numbers was Civil War Veterans.  Additionally, inmates considered “insane or idiotic,” widowed, abandoned, orphaned, or unwed and pregnant were also lodged there.  State regulations required that a record be kept regarding each inmates reason for entering the Poor House, and some of the more intriguing reasons given were whiskey, a shiftless husband, bastardy, seduction, rebel bullets, “mighty odd,” absent minded, religious excitement, robbed by lawyer, and holding town office for 40 years.

 

There were thought to be two different kinds of poor; the “deserving,” and the “undeserving.”  The deserving were considered to be the insane, idiotic, sick, crippled, aged, infants and young children, those who were unfortunate but willing to work, and those who needed assistance on a temporary basis.  The undeserving were vagrants, idlers, and dissolute paupers who were considered lazy and, more often than not, criminals. 

 

Macomb’s poor were also classified into two primary groups; in the 1883 records show that the clean and rational occupied the main house, and the filthy were sent to another building. The idiotic were cared for in a separate area by other inmates, while the insane were housed in yet another facility with cells available and a high fence surrounding the area.   

 

 Macomb’s Early Supervisory Records

 

Supervisory records from the 1850’s show that records from the poor farm were periodically burnt at the request of the Supervisors.  One would surmise this was to protect the privacy of the inmates, yet the information was often released and published on the front page of the local newspaper. Articles would appear such as “members of Louis Allor’s family have not paid their fair share of his bill at the county poor farm, and the county will go after them.” Or “John Burke, former police chief, fell into the drink, and is headed for the poor farm.” 

 

The “Report of the Board of State Commissioners for the General Supervision of Charitable, Penal, Pauper, and Reformatory Institutions” of 1873 reported that the poor house in Macomb County held “a number of insane persons in the establishment, as well as of idiots, some of whom were kept in close confinement in a small building provided for the purpose, a short distance from the house. In a yard adjoining this small building we saw 5 children, all idiots of the lowest order; and the Hon. Giles Hubbard declared that he had never seen any exhibition of human deformity that equaled them.”

 

The ‘Michigan Penal Report” of 1873 described 3 small children considered to be idiotic, all of the same mother at Macomb’s Poor Farm.  The consensus of the board was that “mothers with hereditary tendencies to give birth to such loathsome objects should be prohibited from procreating their species.”  That year, there were 789 persons in Michigan classified as idiots, many of whom resided in poor farms throughout the state. 

 

The cost of maintaining an inmate in Macomb’s Poorhouse in 1873 was $1.08 per week.  Inmates were required to work on the farm if possible, and were fed 3 meals per day for 8 months of the year, and 2 per day in the winter.  The exception was those who chopped wood or did hard labor; they were also given lunch.  Breakfast was around 9:00 A.M., and supper about 4:00 P.M.  The inmates generally ate corn and Indian bread, beef, pork, fish, fruit, and vegetables; mush and cornbread were popular dishes during summer months.  Light cotton clothing was supplied for women, and heavier cotton supplied for those who had a tendency to rip off their clothing.  Inmates wore buckskin mittens, shoes, or boots in the winter; socks, and clothing were made at the poor farm by the ladies.

 

Books were available for reading, and children were sent to local schools in Mt. Clemens.  The Clinton River was the primary method of bathing for the men, while a wash house and wash tub were provided for female bathing and the laundry.  Bedding consisted of oat straw and soldiers blankets for the men, while cotton bedding was utilized for the women.

 

There were 74 paupers maintained at the county farm in 1874, and the keeper’s salary was $700 per year.  While the vast majority of paupers were American born, Irish and German immigrants were also prevalent.  By 1881, there were 41 paupers held at the poor farm; 10 were considered insane, 6 idiotic and 2 were blind.  While the violently insane were sent to the asylum, ones considered harmless had their liberty on the premises.  According to the Poor Keeper, they were reported to be considerably less trouble than some of the inmates that claimed to be sane. 

 

Supervisory records and Sanborn maps also noted that, in addition to the main building, there were several outbuildings located on the county farm.  Other buildings on the premises over the years were a hospital, men’s ward, wood shed, piggery, hen house, butcher shop, barn, corn crib, grain barn, ice house, tool shed, work shop, laundry house, carriage house, a cannery, an underground coal bin, and a milk house.

 

The Pest House

 

The county was also responsible for the quarantine of persons with infectious diseases, and these people often ended up at the Poor Farm.  Macomb County Supervisors made headlines in regards to this issue in 1858 with the Supreme Court decision against them in Bristow vs. Supervisors of Macomb.  In 1853, Mt Clemens resident Anna Craton was stricken with smallpox and removed by the Board of Health to an isolated location belonging to a realtor who tended to her nursing care for 26 days.   As the resident and her family had no means to pay for her care, a bill for $56 was submitted to the supervisors.   The supervisors denied the claim, and refused to look at any documentation related to it.  In 1855, the Supreme Court issued an order for the supervisors to show cause as to why they denied the claim; the supervisors response was to publicly announce that the “Supreme Court had nothing to do with them.”  The Supreme Court ruled that this was dishonest and an abuse of power by the supervisors, and that the claim should be paid.  This case became a part of the 1867 state constitution in reference to the state having mandamus over supervisory decisions. 

 

A small-pox outbreak occurred from February 1st to May 14th of 1877 in Warren Township, and was reported to the State Board of Health by Dr. William Simonds, M.D., Health Officer of Warren Township.  Some of the cases were said to have been spread through clothing from the city, and some from the paper mill.   There were 7 deaths out of the 23 cases reported. 

 

Over the years, a variety of facilities were utilized for persons with infectious diseases.  While a few communities, such as Warren, kept residents confined at a local dwelling place, many went to the County Poor Farm. In 1910, the County Farm’s Pest House was located in northwest corner of the 240-acre farm, and supervisors decided to spend $200 to place the building into proper condition for the reception of patients.  It was a small cell like building with a dirt floor and no windows; the interior doors were sagging on their hinges, and the building had no foundation other than a number of posts. 

 

County Supervisors approved of an extension of electric wires from the Poor Farm to the Pest House in June of 1924. By 1926, the Supervisors requested that the Pest House be utilized for storage as soon as a suitable place was found for the care of inmates with infectious diseases.  By 1927, a place was found in Detroit; contagious inmates were sent to the Herman Kiefer Hospital, who billed Macomb County for their care.  Interestingly, not only were patients quarantined, but vehicles in which they were transported were required to stay at the hospital until it was determined that they were not a health issue. 

 

The Poor Keepers of Macomb

he Poor Keeper and his family also resided on the farm in separate living quarters. In March of 1870, Philo Widrig became the Superintendent of the County Poor Farm, and moved in with his wife, Sally, and their younger children Philemon, Marg, Philo, Jr., Rozell, Harlow, Barlow, Rose Belle, and Mary.  The Widrigs ran the County Farm for nearly two decades, and were reported to have treated the inmates kindly but with a great deal of firmness.  The rules were strictly enforced, especially in regards to cleanliness, and Philo was thought to be the “right man for the job.”

 

 

John Evans, nephew of long term Richmond Township Supervisor William Evans, Sr., had charge of the county farm from 1918 until October of 1932.  He was assisted by his wife Mae, and daughter Marian, a history student at Albion College who spent summers at the farm. In July of 1931, the Mt. Clemens “Daily Leader” ran an article titled “County Infirmary Makes Aged Happy.”  Mrs. Evans confided that the dear old people were easy to cook for; even though many were toothless, they were hearty eaters.  The Infirmary was described as having 3 tiers of sun porches that overlooked vast fields waving in corn, oats, wheat, barley, vegetable gardens, vineyards, poultry yards, and pastures with cattle grazing in them.  There were 16 Holsteins, 3 horses, 40 pigs, and 200 leghorns that produced an average of 80 eggs per day.  The farm raised their own vegetables, churned their own butter, baked their own bread, and had a supply of fresh milk.

 

“The Daily Leader” made note of inmate Ameel De Dobbelean, who boasted of 150 tobacco plants that he grew at the farm; also mentioned was William Kruger of Center Line, who raised flowers and sold them in downtown Mt. Clemens hotel lobbies.  Kruger earned enough money for living expenses, and enough was left to purchase a grave marker at Clinton Grove Cemetery when he died. 

 

In October of 1932, Leo Jean temporarily replaced John Evans as Superintendant of the Poor Farm until the appointment of Edward Fiebelkorn, a life long Macomb County resident who was born in Waldenburg.  After 8 years of attending the county farm, Fiebelkorn died in 1940, and Leo Jean was again temporarily appointed to act as the Superintendent. Lyle Rosso was appointed as the new Superintendant, and moved into the poor farm with his wife, who served as a matron, and his 14-year-old son Howard.  Howard had the distinction of telling everyone at Mt. Clemens High School that he lived at the County Poor Farm.  Upon the retirement of his father in 1959, Howard Rosso was named the director of the Welfare Department.

 

Under the Rosso administration, three full time workers assisted in the farm work, including Howard Rosso’s cousin John, who started at the farm in 1944.  Work began at 6 A.M.; before milking machines were installed they began at 5 A.M. 

 During that time period, the farm averaged between 110 and 120 inmates, and each inmate was required to work. The poor farm was able to support itself, and later fed patients at Martha T. Berry (MTB), provided food for the staff cafeteria, and fed jail prisoners.  The Poor Farm was so sufficient that the federal government fined Director Rosso $203.40 for harvesting an extra 180 bushels of wheat in 1955.  Department of Agriculture Director Marvin McLain, head of the Commodity Stabilization Service, would not allow the farm to raise the additional wheat needed to feed the indigent at the farm

 

The Poor House & the Addition

 

On October 17, 1867, the bake-oven at Macomb’s Poor Farm caught fire, and the entire building burnt down.  Supervisors authorized the construction of temporary quarters for the poor not to exceed $1,000 in February of 1868, and the county voted, by a 1,300 majority, a tax of $10,000 to build a new Poor House that May.  The new facility was made of solid brick, and could house up to 120 inmates at a time, all of whom were required to work at least three days per week to earn their keep.  Additional acreage was also purchased that year.

 

Electricity was added to the Poor House circa 1900, and the 12th elevator permit in the state was issued for the county elevator.  In 1901, two brick buildings were reported at the Poor house site; one a two story facility with a basement for women, and a similar building for the men.  Both buildings were heated with steam, with fair sewage and ventilation. 

 

In order to accommodate the increasing number of sick in the county, a major addition was added in 1923 that tripled the size of the old building.  The original building was encased in gray stucco to coordinate with the new wing, and indoor plumbing was added.  The new wing was used primarily for medical purposes, and the building became known as “The County Infirmary.”  Newspapers reported that the building was divided into ladies and men’s quarters, a hospital on the 2nd floor, and smoking rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, and a laundry on the 1st floor. 

At that time, Macomb County Superintendents of the Poor were paid $13,755.59, or approximately one third of the $43,345.04 budget, which included all expenses of the county farm as well as relief to indigents not residing at the farm.  The Poor Superintendents job was to dole out funds and aid to the poor in their districts. 

The Depression in Macomb County

Prior to the Depression, local societies, churches, and county funds were easily able to handle poor relief.  The Depression brought a rapid increase in the number of poor over a relatively short period of time, and created a multitude of problems.  One of the major issues for the county as well as the state over the years was the control of the disbursement of funds through the county versus the cities and townships.

 

As funds for the poor became overdrawn in 1929, the county farm sold livestock, milk from the dairy herd, and accepted breeding fees to help with expenses.  Poor relief recipients also aided the county with a variety of projects.  In September of 1930, the “Mt. Clemens Daily” reported that 43 men arrived at the riverfront for work; 6 were sent to the county farm to assist with the thrashing, while the balance worked on the Mt. Clemens riverfront cleaning up the banks, or working on the scow that transported tons of junk to the lake for dumping. 

 

With tax collection hovering near 70% delinquent, the county was forced to issue paper scrip in place of cash for its employees and creditors in 1930.  The poor in the southern townships of Macomb did not feel that the county was providing for them adequately, and their disturbances at Supervisory meetings necessitated the need for police at the sessions.  A Van Dyke grocery store was raided by the local poor, and an unemployed father stabbed Poor Commissioner John Schelling in the chest with a knife on another occasion. 

 

The “Honor System” utilized for funds disbursement to the poor gave county supervisors no means to verify the information given to them by township poor supervisors.  Drafts were made out to township poor supervisors, who distributed them to the poor in their districts with no final accounting required.  Drafts were issued for food, fuel, medical attendance, clothing, transportation, and board.  Additionally, poor supervisors were allowed to charge 25 cents for each call made on destitute families for their services.

 

In November of 1930, Macomb’s monthly poor relief was $55,000, and expected to exceed $60,000 in December, which forced the board to make drastic changes in relief.  A new system went into effect January 1, 1931 that required Supervisors of the Poor from Mt. Clemens, East Detroit, Erin, Clinton, Warren and Lake Township to turn over most of their relief work to the Poor Commission, composed of Frank Hacker of Mt. Clemens, C.W. Lapp of Richmond, and Theodore Bell of East Detroit.  These gentlemen’s salaries were not to exceed $200 per month, which included auto expenses.  Bell was also hired to investigate poor relief cases in Warren and Center Line. 

 

In visits to some of the homes receiving aid, Supervisor John Schelling noted another problem; the consumption of alcohol, primarily by the father of the household.  The presence of empty whiskey bottles was often combined with empty larders, and a wife and children that looked half starved.  If relief was cut off, the wife and children would starve, but if continued, at least a part of the poor funds would be utilized for food.  Schelling reported Roseville as the “worst place for this kind of thing,” and that many families receiving fuel from the county had automobiles that he suspected were being used for pleasure. 

 

That December, the county was forced to make cuts to the aid assigned to poor families.  The grand sum of $8.00 per week would be allotted for a family of 12; the amounts varied from $2 for one person, and added $1 per week per person in the household.  Rioting was reported in Center Line and Warren after the dole was cut.  Additional changes were orders to local grocers that would not allow them to sell jelly rolls, preserved peaches, stuffed olives, or dill pickles to persons on the dole.  These items apparently incensed the public in a similar manner to today’s Bridge Card users purchasing lottery tickets, alcohol, or cigarettes. 

Investigations by Macomb’s newly formed Welfare Committee of persons receiving relief in Clinton, Warren, Erin, and Lake Townships, and the city of Mt. Clemens and East Detroit resulted in the removal of 140 families, at a savings of $420 per week.  The committee set up master files to record the families cared for and the amount of relief they obtained.  The committee discovered records previously kept by welfare workers, and this finding resulted in the resignation of several welfare workers that further reduced the county’s costs well over $100 per week.   As the county was not able to provide sufficient care for these areas, relief stations were established in Warren, Roseville, and Lake Township to provide additional aide to the poor. 

 

In October of 1931, newspapers reported that Supervisor Theodore Bell had issued poor orders payable to himself, and had received money from individuals who had received poor aid. He resigned, and was replaced by Paul Benz.  Shelby Supervisor Edwin Conner was also required to make restitution of $1,100 taken from county poor funds in his district.  He obtained the funds by creating a fictitious resident named Clifton Taft, and felt that the county owed him the additional sums for his hard work for the county.  County supervisors apparently agreed with him, as they chose not to prosecute him. 

 

That same month, Warren Township residents presented a petition to county supervisors signed by over 2,000 residents that demanded wage relief, free medical and dental service, free rent, gas, fuel, electricity, water, milk, clothing, hot meals, school supplies, and a cancellation of all debts, back taxes and mortgages. The protesters further claimed that farmers in northern Macomb County had barns filled with foods and fuel, and requested a fairer distribution of their wealth. 

 

The net cost per year of the County Poor in 1931 was $19,992.47; the actual expenses of the farm were $36,425.81, which included $16,334.83 for the support of persons outside the farm.  These costs did not include poor funds issued through the Supervisors of the Poor in individual cities and townships. 

 

Warren Supervisor Frank Licht went to the board in December of 1931 with concerns regarding unemployed Warren resident demands for a $20 weekly allowance, with an additional $2 for each child.  Public demonstrations, parades, and bulletins called for citizens to “organize so strong that we can force our demands,” while the county poor fund was more than $300,000 overdrawn at the time.   

 

The county versus township responsibility for poor relief was again addressed by Supervisors in October of 1932.  The county officially abandoned poor relief as a county obligation, and made township and cities responsible.  This was strongly approved by the northern part of the county, while southern parts were strongly opposed.  The year prior to the change found that Armada’s poor relief was $2,778.66, while the tax levied for it was $4,456.00. 

Lake Township had the largest increase of poor cases in 1932, and hoped that Ford Motor Co. would assist them as they did in 1931.  Armada newspapers reported that Lake, Warren, Erin, and the city of East Detroit comprised approximately 85% of poor cases in the county at that time.

 

By 1933, there were so many applicants for welfare in Macomb that food was purchased wholesale, with some stored in the poor house; welfare recipients were not issued actual checks until 1962. 

 

Poorhouse Replaced with Martha T. Berry Hospital

 

Inmates at the County Infirmary were periodically checked by 4 doctors, who were paid $40 per month.  Dr. H.G. Berry was one of the doctors, and he left several thousand dollars to establish the Martha T. Berry (MTB) Hospital for the indigent.

 

The farm continued to serve residents until MTB Hospital opened in 1950.  John Donahue was one of the Macomb County deputies that assisted in carrying out the last infirmary patients to MTB on Christmas Eve of 1958. The building was closed for remodeling, at a cost of $100,000.

 

The Welfare Department moved into the Poor House in April of 1959; the county Library occupied the 2nd floor until 1967.  Farming operations were discontinued about 1963; by that time the 240-acre farm also housed the county jail as well as the MTB Hospital. 

 

 

The Bureau of Social Services later moved into the facility, now known as the Welfare Building. A furniture and large appliance exchange was set up in the building in 1981, and a special state police unit occupied space on the first floor in 1982.  This unit required the elevator to be sealed off in November of 1982; the elevator was placed back into service in August of 1983.  The Environmental Health Department relocated to the building on September 30, 1983.

 

The basement was utilized by F&O electricians Carl Ballard and Don Maliskey as their electrical shop until their retirements from the county, and the last occupants of the facility were the Sheriff Department’s SWAT Team, who had moved in on December 16, 1989, and a family of cats.

 

The original Poor Farm acreage was now home to the County Jail, MTB Hospital, the Youth Home, Probate Court, Juvenile Court, Central Receiving, the Verkuilen Social Services Building, Mt. Clemens Health Department, Animal Shelter, Macomb Community College, Fraser Flying Club, and the Building Trades Shops. 

 

The 21st Century

 

In March of 2001, local historians Donald W. Green and Cindy Donahue, assisted by Joe Peruzzi, created a documentary that recorded the history of the building, as it was one of the last Poor Farms in existence in the United States. Efforts to preserve a portion of the facility were unsuccessful, and the building was razed by county commissioners in April of 2001.

 

 

Don Green & Howard Rosso

 

In June of 2001, F&O employees created a brick garden in the vacant lot known as Poorhouse Park in memory of employee Mickey Haggerty, who passed away that month.  The original bricks from the Poorhouse building featured the name Haggerty across them, and one was placed there in Mickey’s honor.  The Haggerty Brick Company of Detroit that made the bricks for our Poorhouse had been owned by a distant relation of Mickey’s.  

 

Some of the old outbuildings are still in use today. The old chicken coop now houses the building trades shop, and the little brick building once utilized for canning and later for milk pasteurization now serves as a storage shed.  The Poor Farm site remains rich in the history of service to many Macomb County families.