poor farm

noun

1. a farm maintained at public expense for the housing and support of paupers.

Word History and Origins

Origin of poor farm¹

An Americanism dating back to 1850–55

Example Sentences

Trejo moved to the industrial city of Queretaro, in central Mexico, more than two decades ago, seeking greater opportunity than could be found in the poor farm town in rural Michoacan state where he grew up.

From Los Angeles Times

From 1876 to 1912, impoverished and dispossessed locals were buried in the Duwamish Poor Farm Cemetery, most in graves unmarked.

From Seattle Times

She’s taught painting and drawing for years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago while also helping to run an unorthodox residency at a place called the Poor Farm in rural Wisconsin that aims to see, she says, “How loose can it become before it is just a flophouse?”

From New York Times

Since 2008, they’ve also operated a multifarious arts center in what was once the Waupaca County Poor Farm, a home for the indigent built in 1876 in Little Wolf, Wisconsin.

From New York Times

The sprawling campus opened in 1888 as the Los Angeles County Poor Farm, offering ranch work and medical care to disabled, ill, elderly and homeless people.

From Seattle Times