Chase County Poor Farm

and Potters’ Field

by Glen Hayes and Anoma Hoffmeister

        There used to be an expression people used when they were low on funds, "I think I’m going to land on the poor farm."

        At one time Chase County had a poor farm. It was not possible to find an exact date the poor house was established, but it was believed to have existed as early as 1934. On October 17, 1930, a small plot of land was deeded to the Imperial Silver Fox Farm by Fred Hoffmeister. The Silver Fox Farm was moved to another location and the place became the poor farm. It was located on the SW 1/4 SE 1/4 of Section 5, Township 6, north of range 38. The facilities consisted of two box cars and a two-room house west of the box cars. There was also a five room house which was still standing as of 1984, and the place at that time was occupied by Gary Greeley.

        The Poor House was officially closed in 1944. On February 1, 1944, the Chase County Commissioners made a resolution stating that they had one five room dwelling 28 x 20, one two room dwelling 20 x 16, and two box car buildings 9 x 40, which were vacant and unoccupied. They resolved to sell the property which was then deeded to H. M. Brown on March 14, 1944.

        Glen Hayes learned in his research that the men living at the poor farm worked on the county roads. W. J. Gilchrist was road overseer at the time. People living at that time remembered that families who lived in the poor house picked up cow chips in the adjoining pasture to burn as fuel.

        Imperial also had a potter’s field in Mount Hope Cemetery. The dictionary describes a potter’s field as a piece of ground used for burying people who have no friends or money. Mr. Hayes reported that the last burial in potter’s field was a little baby who belonged to a family who was passing through Chase County in the 1980’s.

            The origin of potter’s name may originate from the Bible story of Judas Iscariot, who tells of the first plot of ground known as potter’s field. After Judas betrayed Jesus to the high priests of Jerusalem for 30 pieces of silver, he became repentant and threw the 30 pieces of silver down in the Temple. The priests would not use the money for their Temple, instead they bought the potter’s field to bury strangers. The field had been located in the valley of Hinnom because it was an ancient, long-used cemetery.