The old Jay County Home sits removed, a quarter-mile off County Road 200-North back past a tree-lined drive. When I stopped by, I expected to find a place still quietly operating under county care. Instead, I arrived just after it had closed. Now, the building stands in an uneasy pause. It’s future is very much up in the air.
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The old Noble County Home is a sprawling institution that has spent decades trying to pass itself off as something more ordinary. From the road, it looks less like a relic of public welfare than a massive old house that’s seen better days. That only makes its past more intriguing.
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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.
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I’m still pretty early in my quest to visit every surviving county home in Indiana, but one of the first I tracked down was in Wells County. About three miles southeast of Bluffton along South County Home Road, the shuttered Wells County Infirmary and Orphan’s Asylum still marks the spot where people once cared for their most vulnerable residents.
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Indiana is known for its miles and miles of cornfields. Head a few miles 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.
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I’d been to six or seven county homes by the time I ventured to Howard Haven just west of Kokomo. A couple of things struck me as I circled the property. For one, it’s still owned and operated by Howard County! Aside from that, it’s far more modern than the majority of the institutions I’d visited at that stage of my journey. Here’s some of its story.
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I’ve always been drawn to big, sweeping statewide projects. There’s something irresistible about assembling a collection than informs the bigger picture! A few months ago, I decided my next long quest would be to visit each of Indiana’s old county infirmaries. I’d already been to six when I set out for the Adams County site just southeast of Decatur. For many years, it went by another name: Golden Meadows.
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I’m a loner drawn to places where people once gathered. Lately, Indiana’s old county homes and infirmaries have captured my attention. They weren’t places people chose to be; they were places people ended up- communities of necessity where the poor, the elderly, and the ill spent the final chapters of their lives together. In Wayne County, an infirmary still stands off U.S. 40 -the old National Road- quietly removed from the traffic that speeds past. It’s easy to miss but hard to forget.
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A week or so ago, I shared plans to visit all thirty-seven of Indiana’s remaining county homes, poorhouses, infirmaries, and whatever other names they went by. What survives in Delaware County is only a modern addition, but the property it sits on carries a significant amount of history. Beyond the present structure, I’m convinced there’s more just waiting to be uncovered.
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I’m drawn to places where people once congregated. For me, abandoned areas that once bustled with people evoke a sense of solitude and reflection. They also serve as historic artifacts that compel me to learn more about the past! That interest is what forms the majority of my writing, and it’s what drew me to Green Acres in southwestern Blackford County. At first glance, only a small, stone, marker differentiates the old county home from other farms in the area.
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