Indiana is known for its miles and miles of cornfields. Head south toward the Ohio River, though, and the land starts to roll, rise, and twist. Before long, you’re navigating hills that feel out of place in the Hoosier State! For now, you’ll find the old Switzerland County Home down there.
Like a lot of the state, much of southern Indiana is rural. In my experience, you know you’re truly in the middle of nowhere when the roads stop being numbered and start being named after people. Careening down State Road 129, my brother and turned down Glen Roberts Road on our way to the old infirmary.
Glen Roberts was born in 1896 and lived to ninety. The road that takes his name starts off paved, but turns to gravel as it bends southwest, climbs a hill, and begins to feel like it’s slipping off the map. If I didn’t know that the old county home stood at the end of it, I’d have sworn it led nowhere.
Fortunately, the building eventually emerges. The 165-acre Switzerland County Poor Farm was established on site in 18321. The home itself, a two-story stone structure measuring forty by twenty feet2, appears to have been completed in 18463. .
Information about the old infirmary is hard to come by, but in 1922 it was described as “an old stone building, lacking all conveniences…it is lighted by kerosene and heated by stoves. The ventilation comes from the windows. The water is supplied by means of a hand pump and there is also a cistern. There is no fire protection. One bath tub is located in the wash house. The closets are out of doors4.”
In those days, the home’s superintendent received $500 a year while his wife, the matron, earned $200. “Inmates” were received on a written order from the township trustee, and county commissioners visited every once in a while. Three men and three women lived there- not a lot5.
A block addition and sunroom were eventually added to the side and rear of the building. Still, in 1931, the Secretary of Indiana’s State Board of Charities called the property “very unsatsfactory6.” Accordingly, the county home appears to have closed in 19407.
After it was shuttered, the old infirmary was converted into a private dwelling. Aerial images show barns and outbuildings that stood until about 2014. A large pole barn-style home was built just south in 20208. I wonder if the 180-year-old structure was abandoned as a residence at that time.
I’ve visited about half of Indiana’s remaining county homes, and every one of them has been easy enough to reach on a public thoroughfare- no questions asked. Glen Roberts Road looked no different on paper. It showed up on Google, on my car’s GPS, and even on signage. Still, driving it felt different. The farther we went, the more it seemed like we were crossing a line. My brother and I kept going since there were no signs telling us to turn around, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were somewhere we weren’t quite meant to be.
That feeling reached its peak when the abandoned home circled into view. We gasped. The roof was completely gone! As we gingerly circled around, we noticed that the rear addition -a sunroom, perhaps- had collapsed. Unfortunately, the landmark is likely not long for this world.
There at the end of Glen Roberts Road, it was hard not to feel like we’d arrived just in time. The old Switzerland County Home has endured for nearly two centuries, hidden in hills that most Hoosiers never think about. With its roof gone and parts of it already giving way, it feels less like a place and more like a memory in the process of disappearing.
That’s the thing I’m starting to realize about these county homes. They weren’t built to be landmarks, yet they’ve become some of the most powerful ones we have left. You don’t stumble onto them by accident- you have to go looking. When you do, though, you’re often reminded just how quickly even the most substantial pieces of our past can slip away.
Sources Cited
1 Switzerland County Poor Farm (n.d.). Asylum Projects. Web. Retrieved March 21, 2026.
2 Parcel 78-14-17-200-005.000-002 (2026). Office of the Assessor. Switzerland County [Vevay]. Web. Retrieved November 22, 2026.
3 (See footnote 2).
4 (See footnote 1).
5 (See footnote 1).
6 County Jails Held “Unsatisfactory” (1931, November 9). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 4.
7 (See footnote 1).
Are the home and grounds posted in any way? I’m surprised I didn’t see any signs in your photos, as the building could be a real nuisance. How close did you get?
We didn’t see anything posted anywhere, but got as close as the photos indicate and didn’t leave the car. Fortunately, there was an easy turnaround NE of the home near where the old barn used to be.
I am sad whenever I see a building that has lasted so long being allowed to fall down.
I wonder if that place ever got electricity before it was closed down. My mother grew up in rural Paulding County, Ohio and they did not get electricity out where they lived until 1939.
There was a power line, but I couldn’t see a connection to the old home. If it was, I assume it came once it was used as a regular house.
Fortuitous timing to see this building when you did. I imagine it won’t last much longer.
Unfortunately, I think you’re right. It and the old Orange County Home seem to be the most endangered.