ALMOST a decade before Roy, Utah even received its name, Weber County had a poor farm in that locality on what was then known as the “Sandridge” or the “Ridge” …
From the Salt Lake Herald newspaper of
July 21, 1887:
“Weber County has bought a poor
farm. The farm consists of eighty acres near the Hooper switch on the Utah
Central. The purchase is intended to furnish a self-supporting home for
unfortunates who may be thrown upon the public charity.”
The original farms encompassed 80
acres and was located just north of what today would be 2700 West and 5500
South (just west of the Union Pacific railroad tracks and east of the Rio
Grande Rail Trail). It was purchased for $1,800.
The farm was surrounded by a barb
wire fence and included large fields of produce. There was a small house on the
property and more buildings were added later to accommodate the occupants, who
were often referred to as “inmates.”
If a person in Weber County could
not sustain themselves, then they lived on the farm and worked as much as they
were able to support themselves.
Roy, Utah was first settled in 1873, but didn’t even have a post
office until 1894 and so the poor farm predated that. Indeed, the first mention
of Roy being the community with a poor farm was in the Davis County Clipper on
Aug. 26, 1910.
There was eventually a small
cemetery on the property and so if a resident died and had no other means of
burial, they were interred there. There were likely 25-30 burials made over the
decades there, though what eventually happened to the cemetery is unknown.
A June 6, 1911 report in the Ogden Evening Standard featured a visit by Weber County and Ogden area leaders to the poor farm in Roy. The leaders were challenged to eat the same lunch as the farm occupants and they accepted the offer. The report from the poor farm cook was excellent and no one went hungry. The poor farm was mentioned as having vegetable gardens and orchards then, but no cattle, though some other poor farms in Utah did have herds too.
By the early 20th
Century, the poor farm became known as the Weber County Infirmary. A fire in
1921 destroyed the main building on the property. Later, Weber County sold off
property and used it to create other facilities closer to Ogden City, than 7
miles distant.
In 1960, the Weber County Chronic Disease
Hospital opened. Then, the name was changed to Weber Memorial Hospital.
By the 21st Century, the
name was Heritage Park Rehabilitation and HealthCare Center.
(One of my grandmothers, who lived
in Hooper, often joked that she’d end up at the poor farm, if she couldn’t take
care of herself. Sadly, when her heart began to fail at age 93, she was placed
in Weber Memorial Hospital – at the very site of the old poor farm – and she
seemed to lament that, before passing away a few months later.
When the facility had transformed to
the Weber Memorial Hospital status in the 1960s, it was the closest medical
office to Hooper and all of western Roy. I recall visiting a doctor housed
there in 1964.)
Salt Lake County also had a poor
farm too. It was located somewhere south of Salt Lake City and was mentioned in
a story in the Salt Lake Herald on Aug. 25, 1889.
Box Elder County also had its own
poor farm, located on 20 acres, with many fruit trees (from the Brigham City
Bugler newspaper of Aug. 1, 1890).
Cache County had a poor farm in
Logan also (Logan Journal June 8, 1892) and so did Sanpete County in Manti,
one 40 acres (Salt Lake Tribune June 7, 1895).
Salt Lake County also used poor farm
residents to perform some road work (Salt Lake Times Aug. 31, 1892) to save
money on construction and street repairs.
Nationally, there were poor farms all over the country during the same period.
The poor farms were all gone by
World War II, replaced by sanitariums and other facilities. And, then the
welfare system came into prominence…
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