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Each of Indiana’s ninety-two counties was home to at least one infirmary or poorhouse in the sometimes distant past. The facilities ran the gamut from stone structures built in the 1840s to Art Deco buildings put up a century later. A few were even newer, and one of the most recently-built ex-infirmaries I’ve seen sits in Jefferson County between Madison and Dupont.

Jefferson County is old. Formed five years before Indiana became a state, its seat, Madison, was one of the most important cities in the region. James Vawter built Jefferson County’s first infirmary nearby in 1834 for $521. It’s said to have stood on the property now known as Clifty Falls State Park¹. By 1858, a second poor farm at Rykers’ Ridge -a small community about three and a half miles northeast of Madison- was deemed inadequate. Jefferson County’s third infirmary was built on Hog Trough Road just southwest of Madison the following year². The old home’s appointments, residents, and their belongings took the nine-mile trip down the old Michigan Road via a procession of oxcarts³!

The 1859 Jefferson County Home was a whitewashed⁴ stone structure that served as a landmark for those going from Madison to Hanover⁵. It rose two stories around a central courtyard and atop a partially-exposed basement. Eventually, the institution wound up with a curious colloquial name, “The House With Seven Chimneys⁶.” I’m not certain, but I think that the moniker arose because the home featured seven smokestacks.

By 1938 -nearly fifty years after the House of Seven Chimneys was built- age was starting to catch up with it. The building didn’t have central heating, for starters. It turned out that those chimneys were necessary, since each living area had its own fireplace! Furthermore, the infirmary was only wired for electricity in the superintendent’s office, along with one of its dormitories⁷. In 1940, the building was home to twenty-eight residents, “inmates,” as they were called in those days.

That year, the Indiana Department of Public Welfare recommended that the institution build a better heating plant and upgrade its water and drainage systems. Furthermore, worn-out bathroom fixtures, beds, and bedding needed to be replaced. In a final note, the inspector recommended that all admissions to the Jefferson County Infirmary be made “only in strict accord with the law,” and that “the medical service and drugs service to this institution be definitely and carefully systematized for the sake of economy and efficiency⁸.”

I’m not completely clear on whether those upgrades came to the county home. Nevertheless, the House of Seven Chimneys only lasted twelve more years: in 1952, officials announced that the Indiana-Kentucky Electric Company intended to build an enormous new power plant on part of the property. Specifics are complicated, but IKEC purchased the grounds for $54,760⁹. To facilitate the transaction and still provide for those under county care, commissioners acquired 260 acres on State Road 7 just south of Dupont for $40,000¹⁰.

The fourth Jefferson County Home was a long, one-story brick building in the shape of an H. Built by the Lichlyter Building Supply Company for $105,000¹¹, the structure featured dedicated wings for up to forty males and females along with community rooms like a dining hall and chapel in its crossbar¹². Tools, implements, and livestock were relocated to the new site by February 1954. Meanwhile, the House of Seven Chimneys was briefly used by construction workers at the new power plant until it was promptly demolished¹³.

Despite its reputation as a tourist haven for history and tradition today, Jefferson County was still very rural when its new infirmary came online. In 1960, officials planned to suspend farming operations on the enormous site and dispose of excess land, equipment, stock, and buildings. Recognizing that nearby Switzerland and Jennings Counties had already closed their own infirmaries, commissioners floated the concept of allowing a private entity to come take over the operation¹⁴.

Ultimately, rising operating costs and a dwindling number of residents brought the Jefferson County Home’s long history as a public institution to an end in 1980. With fewer people to care for, the expense of maintaining such a large facility had become increasingly difficult to justify. Later that year, the property was sold at auction to Little Rest Farms, which already owned land around three sides of the building¹⁵. Although its days as a poor house were over, the home itself survived: today, it serves as a private residence.

Sources Cited
1 Cole, P. (2005, July 30). Remember The House of the Seven Chimbleys? The Madison Courier. p. 4.
2 Engle, W. (2002, January 4). The Poor Farm. The Madison Courier. Web. Retrieved October 19, 2026.
3 (See footnote 2).
4 King, E.C. (1955, September 21). Early Days in and about this city. The Madison Courier. p. 8.
5 (See footnote 4).
6 (See footnote 2).
7 (See footnote 2).
8 Inspect County Farm (1940, September 18). The Madison Courier. p. 4.
9 (See footnote 2).
10 County Inmates Transferred To New Infirmary (1954, March 2). The Madison Courier. p. 1.
11 County Inmates Transferred To New Infirmary (1954, March 2). The Madison Courier. p. 1.
12 Will Prepare Plans For New County Home (1953, May 5). The Madison Courier. p. 1.
13 (See footnote 12).
14 New Operation May Solve County Home Dilemma (1960, January 8). The Madison Courier. p. 1.
15 County home is auctioned for $86,666 (1980, September 15). The Madison Courier. p. 1.