Harris County Poor Farm

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official Harris County Poor Farm marker has to say, and friend, this is one of those stories that starts quiet and grows into something you won't soon forget. Harris County, back in 1882, looked around at its indigent citizens and decided something had to be done. So the county established a poor-house, work farm, and hospital on 37.4 acres, sitting two blocks north of Glenwood Cemetery.

The site had history already baked into it. It had been a private hospital, run by Drs. Stuart, Larendon, and Boyles, and it included a 33.4-acre farm that had formerly belonged to Dr.

Boyles himself. Not a bad start. But not enough.

By 1894, the county needed modern facilities and more space, so they went bigger. Much bigger. They built the Harris County Poor Farm on 200 acres, four miles southwest of the Houston city limits.

And to make that land workable, they dug drainage ditches along three sides of the property. One ran near Edloe Street on the east. Another sat about 115 feet west of Auden Road on the west side.

The third ran about 400 feet north of Bellaire Boulevard to the south. Now those are precise numbers, and precision like that tells you somebody was serious about making this place function. The fifteen acres north of Richmond Road, which is now called Bissonnet, held the superintendent's cottage, segregated housing for the residents, a dairy, a barn, and a state-of-the-art water system.

Some of the residents worked the farm, and the place was largely self-sustaining. A report from 1915 gives you a picture of what that meant: chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, and cows. Crops of corn, cantaloupe, and watermelon.

Out there on the edge of Houston, this was a small world unto itself. Now in August of 1904, the commissioners court selected a ten-acre tract of the poor farm for what they called the New Paupers Cemetery. And here the story gets quiet for a moment, because the first person buried there was a man named Gadson Gamble.

The marker describes him as a very aged black resident of the poor farm. That is the sum of what we know about him, and it deserves a breath. Time moved on, as time does, and the neighborhoods crept closer.

Residential development made that poor farm land too valuable to let sit. So a new Harris County Home and a new county cemetery were built on 100 acres near Oates Road. That facility opened in March of 1922.

Late in 1923, the old poor farm property was sold, and all the remains in the Paupers Cemetery were moved to the new cemetery. Every last one. Then came the Great Depression.

Federal aid programs stepped in and replaced many of what the state and county had been doing. That shift ultimately led to the permanent closure of the county home, in 1958. But here is what you carry away from all of this.

Most of those 200 acres, the cottages, the dairy, the barn, the ditch on the west, the ditch on the south, all of it is gone now, folded into the city that grew right over it. The one thing you can still see, if you know where to look, is the poor farm ditch near Edloe Street. One ditch.

And out on Oates Road, the county cemetery that opened in 1922 and ran all the way to 2014 is still there. A ditch and a cemetery. That is what remains of a place that once fed itself on corn and cantaloupe, sheltered hundreds of souls, and buried its first resident under his own name, Gadson Gamble, in a ten-acre patch of ground that the county set aside because somebody had to.

What the marker says

To provide for indigent citizens, Harris County established a "poor-house, work farm, and hospital" in 1882 on 37.4 acres, two blocks north of Glenwood Cemetery. The site had been a private hospital run by Drs. Stuart, Larendon and Boyles, plus a 33.4-acre farm formerly owned by Dr. Boyles. Needing modern facilities and more space, in 1894 the county built the "Harris County Poor Farm" on 200 acres, four miles southwest of the Houston city limits. Drainage ditches were dug along three sides: near Edloe St. on the east, about 115 feet west of Auden Rd. on the west, and about 400 feet north of Bellaire Blvd. on the south. The fifteen acres north of Richmond Rd. (now Bissonnet) included the superintendent's cottage, segregated housing for the residents, a dairy and barn, and a state-of-the-art water system. Some residents worked on the farm, which was largely self-sustaining. A 1915 report listed chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and cows, and crops of corn, cantaloupe and watermelon. Today, the poor farm ditch near Edloe street is the only visible evidence of this complex. In August 1904, commissioners court selected a ten-acre tract of the poor farm for the county's New Paupers Cemetery. The first person buried in it was Gadson Gamble, a very aged black resident of the poor farm. When nearby residential development made the poor farm's land too valuable to ignore, a new "Harris County Home" and county cemetery were built on 100 acres near Oates Road, opening in March 1922. The old poor farm property was sold late in 1923 and all remains in the Paupers Cemetery were moved to the new cemetery. During the Great Depression, federal aid programs replaced many state and county initiatives, ultimately leading to permanent closure of the county home in 1958. However, the 1922-2014 county cemetery remains at Oates Road. (2022)