From Poor House to Manor

This new county home won't be called a poorhouse, but it is a direct descendent of the county's original poorhouse, established in 1826 just across the river in Middlefield.

That first poorhouse was born of a New York state mandate, adopted in 1824, that all counties in the state build poorhouses, according to Dr. Joseph P. Vidosic of Cooperstown, author of "The Meadows and Its Predecessor."

So, at the state's behest, the Otsego County Board of Supervisors acquired William Temple's farm in Middlefield and hired a poorhouse keeper for $400 a year to run it as the Otsego County Poor House and Farm.

Total cost of this real estate purchase?

$3,199.37, Vidosic wrote.

For more than a century, it was here that the county's infirm, elderly and poor came for shelter when they couldn't find it elsewhere. For example, records show that in 1829, 147 people sought refuge at the poorhouse. Forty-one were younger than 8 years old; 11 were ages 8 to 20; 35 were 21 to 40; 36 were 41 to 60; 21 were 61 to 80 and three were older than 80.

Paupers had to work, and that year the Otsego County Poor House generated $691.63 in farm produce, according to the keeper's report.

Like many other social institutions, the county's poorhouse evolved during the 19th century. More land was acquired, and buildings were constructed and enlarged. There were problems caused by putting so many paupers together; however, and by mid-century, it was thought beneficial to segregate the older and younger ones.

"Thus, in 1859, the decision was made to separate the 18 children then at the poor house from the adults," Vidosic wrote.

A children's wing and play yard were added to the poorhouse, and children were moved there.

That was better, but as years went by, it seemed the county was not doing the best it could for children by keeping them at the poorhouse, which had, among other things, a `'lunatic ward," Vidosic wrote.

In 1873, the Otsego County Board of Supervisors started to investigate moving the children from the poorhouse to Susan Cooper's orphanage in Cooperstown. Two years later, another state mandate required counties to remove all children between the ages of 3 and 16 from poorhouses.

Dependent children went to the orphanage after that, and dependent adults continued to live at the poorhouse.

By the late 1880s, the word "poor" was removed from the institution, which became the "county house."

When the poorhouse opened, it had housed about equal numbers of men and women. By the start of the 20th century, far more men than women lived there. This would change in the next century, however, as able-bodied men no longer would be allowed to live there.

In the 20th century, the county house became an infirmary, too, taking care of larger numbers of ill and older people. Federal and state social welfare legislation provided funds for taking care of the elderly and mandated more modern medical treatment in nursing homes.

By the 1950s, the state decided the county house and infirmary was outdated and unsafe, and Otsego County decided to build a new facility, which years later would be named The Meadows.

When The Meadows opened in 1958, it was considered a state-of-the-art nursing home. It was enlarged twice in the coming years, but by the mid-1990s, the county had begun to consider replacing it.

For a time, the board investigated privatizing the nursing home, according to longtime county board member Charles Bateman of Cooperstown.

"I was in favor of privatization, but the biggest crowd we ever had at a board meeting was when CSEA (Civil Service Employees' Association) workers came to ask the board not to sell The Meadows," he said. County representatives decided to maintain the county home, and by 1997, the county began to seriously explore building a new county nursing home.

Plans were drawn and revised. The cost estimate rose from about $22 million to nearly $30 million, and in 2002, ground was broken for the facility.

In the coming years, not only the physical plant, but the composition of residents of the new county home, Otsego Manor, is likely to change. Once again, the driving force for change comes from federal and state mandates, as well as changing social mores.

According to Russ Bachman, fiscal officer at The Meadows, the new county home must strive to admit many people who need intensive medical care, and fewer who are able to care for themselves, if the facility is to operate in the black. This is because the state will pay far more to care for people who need more medical attention than for those who don't.

The new nursing home is scheduled to open its doors in early 2004.

———

Tom Grace can be reached at grace@ascent.net or (607) 547-2431.