For decades, Oregon required counties to care for their indigent residents. Government-funded relief institutions — known as poor farms — provided food, shelter, and medical services throughout the state. Poor farms became a refuge for the elderly, people with disabilities, or anyone unable to care for themselves. However, the care varied widely. Some provided residents with a home, while others operated more like prisons. “Oregon’s County Poor Farms” examines this little-known history of how the state once cared for its poor.

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Chapters:
0:45 Oregon's County poor farms, an introduction
2:00 The mystery of Hoyt Arboretum
4:30 Hillside Multnomah County poor farm
5:30 Poor farms as relief institutions in the United States
6:16 Society's view of poor farms
7:10 Jackson County poor farm, Jacksonville
8:47 What is a poor farm?
9:56 Some of the problems with poor farms
12:12 Who ended up at the poor farm?
13:23 Oregon counties' support of the poor
13:34 Lane County poor farm
14:40 Why people come to poor farms
16:38 Abuse and poor conditions at poor farms
18:32 The origin of Washington Park in Portland
19:05 Troutdale poor farm, the largest poor farm in the state of Oregon
19:41 Frankie Baker, most famous resident of the poor farm, the story behind the song Frankie and Johnny?
20:50 The impact the Great Depression had on the poor farms system
21:30 The New Deal and the beginning of the end of poor farms
23:01 Oregon public welfare commission
23:22 Jackson County and the new poor farm
24:10 Time capsule from the Jackson County poor farm
26:07 Edgefield Manor
27:23 McMenamin Edgefield


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