History of the Brown County Minnesota Poor Farm 1870 to 1965: A precursor for public housing projects

Forty years ago they didn't call it welfare. It was mother's pension, commissioners' relief, old age pension, or the county poor farm. The first three gave monthly payments or picked up bills for living expenses. But the last alternative meant a move to the solid brick two-storied structure along the Cottonwood River at the south end of New Ulm--the Brown County Poor Farm. Circa 1870 to 1965. In 1907, the second of the Brown County Poor Farms was build at a cost of $18,000.