Some buildings demand your attention even when you don’t know their story. For years, one of those places has stood along U.S. 27 just south of Winchester. It’s the old Randolph County Infirmary.
Aside from the old Smith-Esteb Tuberculosis Hospital that eventually became the Wayne County Infirmary, the first poor farm I ever noticed was Randolph County’s. In college, I worked the midnight shift at a call center. After I broke free for the night, friends and I would wander the backroads of East-Central Indiana at night just to see what we could find.
More than once, my headlights swept across the ornate brick structure just south of Winchester on US-27. Even fifteen years ago, it stood out as a landmark! I didn’t think to research it, but it was one of those places that seemed impossible to ignore once you knew it was there.
The building I often passed but forgot to take photos of until now was Randolph County’s third infirmary. The first was built in 1851, a 65 x 45-foot place with sixteen rooms1.
Unfortunately, a fire claimed it after two years in service2. A second, built on the same site for $5,950, lasted for many years until a grand jury described it as “wholly inadequate” for the needs of its residents3. The present infirmary was erected in 1899 for about $40,0004.
At nearly 50,000 square feet, the building featured six large wards, private rooms, separate dining rooms for men and women, and laundry and kitchen facilities. Aside from the home itself, the greater property included a pump house, two barns, a machine shed, a garage or “cell house,” two other garages, and a chicken house on 350 acres5.
Over time, the enormous Randolph County Infirmary struggled with low occupancy. In 1996, its name was changed to Countryside Care Center to help promote it and increase its use. Only ten people called it home, but the center could support fifteen more without making staffing changes6. The interior of the structure was remodeled a year later7.
Unfortunately, Countryside Care closed in 2008 when only five people lived there8. The empty building was used for county storage before it was purchased in 2015 for $35,000, then later, again, by Saving the Old Properties, Incorporated9. The organization spent $369,000 on rehabilitating the structure, then paid about $25,000 to make it habitable10.
Today, the 127-year-old Randolph County Infirmary is advertised as the Haunted Randolph County Infirmary. “…the Asylum / Infirmary is well known in the paranormal community,” its website practically screams, “as a hotbed of activity that never fails to wow visitors11.”
Who knows if it’s haunted. Personally, I’ve never put much stock in that sort of hokum, but I’m glad the old Randolph County Infirmary has been preserved. Still, something about the story sits uneasily with me. According to the property’s website, roughly five hundred people died at the county home, and those whose bodies were never claimed by family were buried somewhere on the grounds in an unmarked cemetery12. No one seems quite sure where it lies today, but it’s said to be separate from the old Neff Cemetery, a family burial ground high on the hill on county-owned property just northwest of the old infirmary13.
For all the talk of ghosts, the real story at the old Randolph County Infirmary is much more human. It wasn’t built to frighten visitors on a weekend tour. For more than a century, it was a place where people lived out their final years when they had nowhere else to go. The residents who passed through its doors were poor, elderly, sick, or simply alone, and their stories rarely made it into the historical record.
The real legacy of places like this shouldn’t be paranormal. Instead, it’s the quiet reminder that hundreds of Hoosiers once lived, worked, and died here. That leaves behind more than enough of a story that deserves to be remembered.
Sources Cited
1 Pitts, E. (1999, September 6). Former county home has long history at its site. The Muncie Star Press. p. 7.
2 Kartholl, J. (2016, April 18). Ghost Tours. The Muncie Star Press. pp. A1-A2.
3 (See footnote 1).
4 (See footnote 1).
5 Randolph County Poorhouse (2021, April 28). Asylum Projects. Web. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
6 Pitts, E. (1996, November 5). Randolph County Infirmary to undergo name change. The Muncie Star Press. p. 19.
7 Pitts, E. (1997, March 26). Randolph facility makes major turnaround. The Muncie Star Press. Pp. 1, 3.
8 (See footnote 5).
9 Parcel 68-09-33-400-026.001-020 (2026). Office of the Assessor. Randolph County [Winchester]. Web. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
10 Kartholl, J. (2016, April 18). Ghost Tours. The Muncie Star Press. pp. A1-A2.
11 Official Randolph County Asylum/Infirmary (2024). Randolph County Asylum/Infirmary [Winchester]. Web. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
12 (See footnote 11).
13 Garner, K.W. (2023, March 19). Law enforcement beyond this point. Hoosier Happenings. Web. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
Lots of good reviews for this place on Google… everyone seems to see/hear the paranormal activity they come looking for. And the organization that runs it seems to have acquired several old structures that are all equally haunted. What an incredible streak of luck!
Yeah. I’m glad it’s preserved. They spent some significant money getting it in passable shape inside. Wonder how that disturbed the spirits…
One of the other properties this corporation owns is the old jail in Blackford County. I’ve written about it but don’t have the wherewithal to link to it. Old jails are a fail on my part. I wish I’d taken photos of all of them when I went to every courthouse.
These pieces always remind me that there are other ways for caring for the poorest among us than those ways that are normal to us today.
It’s an interesting insight.