Page 48 - CelebrationMag_Dec2019Jan2020_ForWeb

A Season of Giving

by Pat Rodgers

ocated in the heart of Collin County, McKinney has many
outstanding programs that are designed to take care of its The Collin County farm over the years produced cotton, grains,
Lpoor and displaced citizens; however, it hasn’t always been hay, fruit and vegetables. Cattle, hogs, sheep, chickens and turkeys
that way. were butchered or sold. The turkeys were a favorite to sell at
When I was growing up in the 1950’s, my Dad, a child of the Great Thanksgiving. What was sold gave them enough money to buy
what they could not produce themselves.
Depression, would look at me and say, “You are going to sendus
to the Poor Farm!” or “We are going to end up on the Poor Farm!” There was a large area for growing vegetables for use on the farm.
Today, our children and grandchildren would have no idea what my The surplus was canned or preserved for feeding residents. Corn
Dad was talking about. was used to feed the livestock and to fatten the hogs that were killed.
From the hard times after the Civil War until the Depression of the The meat was cured to furnish well balanced meals the year round.
The farm was self-supporting. The residents who were too old to
1930’s, Texas counties carried the welfare burden. It was the only work were cared for by those who were well and strong.
welfare system that existed. Everyone looked to the county for help.
The state constitution of 1876 authorized counties to establish a In the 1920’s the city of McKinney sent jail inmates, who were not
“manual labor poor house and farm.” At least 65 counties mostly incarcerated for a serious crime, to the Poor Farm. They worked the
in North and Central Texas responded with operations that lasted fields, planted the crops and reaped the harvest. They were paid $1
into the 1940’s. Collin County was among the North Texas counties a day to work off their fines.
establishing poor farms of 200 to 400 acres. Other welfare programs began to kick in during the 1940’s and
On March 23, 1886 Collin County began a public relief program began to provide monthly payments, social services and hospital
when they purchased 336 acres for the grand price of $5,734. There care. However, recipients of those programs could not live in public
on rolling hills lining a creek, the county set up a farm, near what is institutions such as a poor farm. This law, the state’s Old Age
now Hardin Road and El Dorado to house, feed, and clothe its needy. Assistance Law, made the poor farms obsolete. The farm began
The County Commissioners oversaw the farm and a superintendent to lose money and other welfare options took its place. The farm
lived in “the big house” on the property with the indigent people ceased operations in the 1950’s with the buildings and most of the
living in the smaller houses. land sold in 1955. The county retained and still maintains a two acre
The County Commissioners who had been paying paupers $8 to pauper cemetery filled with unmarked graves.
$10 per month began sending the homeless and feeble to the house A hint of the old farm story is told on a Texas State Historical
on the hill. The official name was the “County Farm.” It was a place Marker that marks the site. Today this 2½-acre plot, set within
where widows with children, orphans and other paupers could go sight of multi-million dollar homes is rather ironic given the
and live off the land. Over the years the numbers grew from 5 to 10 men and women of the Poor Farm who struggled to survive
a month, to 45 a month in 1935, as the Great Depression took its toll. here on the very spot.
Bernice Straughan, a life-long resident of McKinney tells the story Today the citizens of Collin County continue the legacy of
best. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Cook managed the Poor Farm giving and supporting our needy. Join us at the Collin County
from 1914 through 1921 and Bernice grew up on the farm. Bernice History Museum as we showcase the stories of the people,
and her husband later managed the farm as well. She tells it as places, and events that shaped McKinney, Then and Now.•
follows: “There was about 300 or more acres on the farm, mostly in
pasture used for grazing the cows and other stock.”

page 46 | www.celebrationmagazine.com