March 1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT The remnants of the Brown farm such as the smoke house and a couple of barns were demolished in February of 1999. Thomas E. Clancy was appointed superintendent of the county infirmary in 1932, for a term of four years at an annual salary of $1,800.00. Mrs. Clancy was named matron of the institution for a salary of $1,200.00. Under Mr. Clancy the infirmary farm was worked to capacity to aid in reducing the cost of feeding the residents. Clancy set out a hundred fruit trees and went into poultry raising on an extensive scale to help bring down the per capita cost of the operation. The existence of the county farm helped make the infirmary as self-supporting as possible and gave some residents opportunity to gainfully occupy themselves. Although most of the work of tilling 600 acres was too heavy for the elderly men of the institution, there were other tasks that they performed, such as, caring for the poultry and gathering eggs. Other inmates were involved in sorting potatoes, wrapping paper around the Keifer pears and helping in the canning process. In 1943, the St. Joseph County Council appropriated $7,000.00 for the construction of a livestock barn at the infirmary. Operation of the farm netted the county $6,034.50 in profits in 1942. Thus, farming continued to be an integral part of the history of the St. Joseph County Infirmary. In 1989, after 18 months of renovations the manor was a place that its residents could once more appreciate. Although patients range in age from 29 to 90, it is essentially a home for the aged who have no families or whose families cannot or will not provide them care. The renovation preserved the building's turn -of -the -century character. The institution has been known by a variety of names, such as poor house, the infirmary, the poor farm and the old age asylum, but by 1962 a legislative decree designated it as the County Home. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION This is a two story structure with attic and basement designed in the Classical Revival Style by Feyermuth and Maurer. The building is "Y" in shape with projections and has a concrete foundation with cut stone at ground level and brick above ground level. The walls are made of red brick with quoins and string courses of Chicago common brick. It also has a molded wooden frieze below the roofline. The roof is a pitched gable with pedimented gable ends and dormers and is covered in asphalt roofing. It also has circular windows in the gable ends with molded cornice. The structure boasts a full height projecting front gabled entrance portico with cut -stone Ionic columns supporting an entablature and an enclosed gable end with an ornate oval window. The porch also has a second level balcony, tile flooring, wide first story stairs and wrought iron balustrades.