The Johnson County Historic Poor Farm has been designated a heritage area by Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, recognizing its complex history as a site where marginalized individuals once lived and worked under harsh conditions. Today, the farm is being transformed into a space that honors its past while fostering community, education, and local food production.
Poor farms, like the Johnson County Historic Poor Farm established in 1855, were county-run institutions where people with limited means lived and worked, producing food for themselves and for sale. The county operated the farm under this model until 1988, after which the land was farmed privately and by nonprofits.
In 2016, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors made the site available to the public and began the process of revitalizing it for modern use.
Cara Miller, executive director of Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area, said the designation reflects the organization’s mission to tell Iowa’s diverse agricultural stories with the poor farm representing an underrepresented chapter of that history.
“It was an untold story of agriculture,” Miller said of the Historic Poor Farm.
She said the designation helps preserve and recognize the fragmented, often personal stories of poor farms that have lived on through community memory, giving them a place in Iowa’s documented agricultural history.
“Everyone who’s over a certain age in Iowa, myself included, has heard stories in their past of the poor farms,” Miller said. “So, I think it’s a very interesting story in history that Iowa should embrace.”
At one time, every county in Iowa had a poor farm, as the state struggled to care for its population of dependent adults unable to care for themselves due to disability, mental illness, and poverty, among other factors.
Today, Johnson County’s Historic Poor Farm is believed to be the best-preserved and best-documented poor farm in the state, reckoning with a history that includes the confinement of residents in small, prison-like cells and the burial of many in unmarked graves. This reflects the harsh and often inhumane treatment of society’s most vulnerable during that era.
Miller said the story of a poor farm is heavy but important, adding that Johnson County’s restoration and historical interpretation have transformed the site from a dark chapter into a space where its complex past can be acknowledged and honored.
“I’m so glad that Johnson County is able to tell the story and has transformed this space into something today that’s a positive experience for people who visit,” Miller said.
Ilsa DeWald, Johnson County’s local food and farm manager who directly oversees the farm, said since the Board of Supervisors created the revitalization plan, she has worked to preserve the historic buildings at the farm, provide historical interpretation, and make the land accessible to local food growers.
“We have farmers who are able to access land on site and gardeners utilizing community garden spaces,” DeWald said.
The Johnson County Historic Poor Farm features historic buildings like the Livestock Barn, Dairy Barn, and Asylum, along with natural areas. It supports programs such as the Land Access Program, offering land to local farmers; GROW: Johnson County, a hunger-relief and educational farm; and the Global Food Project, which provides garden space for immigrant and refugee families.
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DeWald said she hopes the Historic Poor Farm’s inclusion in the Silos & Smokestacks heritage area network will raise public awareness and support its continued growth.
“What I am very excited about is the ability to help market and raise awareness of the site,” DeWald said. “Because we want members of the public to be able to come out and see the interpretive signage, be able to learn about the history.”
Miller added the designation will help promote tourism to the farm and provide opportunities for annual training focused on historical preservation and interpretation. She also said the designation reflects a standard of excellence, as Silos & Smokestacks carefully evaluates each site to ensure it aligns with their mission of telling Iowa’s agricultural story.
“We’re funded through the American people. We’re funded through Congress,” Miller said. “We have an obligation to make sure that who we’re adding to the heritage area is meeting the mission of telling an agriculture story and that it’s a high-quality site.”
Ultimately, DeWald said, this designation advances the county’s vision for the Historic Poor Farm and its future as a community-centered space.
“Trying to build out the space to be more publicly accessible is the main goal and definitely one we’re moving towards with this designation through Silos & Smokestacks,” DeWald said.
Julie Watkins, Johnson County event and program assistant for the Historic Poor Farm, who wrote the application for the Silos & Smokestacks designation, highlighted the farm’s role in both preserving its past and shaping its future.
“I believe the Historic Poor Farm to be a special place because it is doing so many things and doing them well,” Watkins said. “It’s trying to honor the history, the sensitive history of the site through education on that history, as well as also doing a lot of local food production.”
While residents of the Johnson County Poor Farm in the past often faced neglect and inadequate care reflective of the era’s treatment of marginalized individuals, today, the county is working to transform the farm’s legacy into one of inclusion, support, and community engagement.
“Not only are people growing food, but they’re building a community at the farm,” Watkins said.