{"nrhp_refnum":"00001048","name":"Saline County Poor Farm","other_names":["Poor Farm","Saline Creek Pioneer Museum"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"1600 Feazel Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Harrisburg","county":"Saline County","state":"IL","lat":37.71968037600004,"lon":-88.55413667599998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-01-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A discontiguous district in Harrisburg, Saline County, Illinois, made up of a brick Italianate poor house built in 1877, a frame storage building, and a poor farm cemetery on 3.46 acres that remain of an original 175-acre county poor farm.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property is locally significant under Criterion A for its link to county government efforts to care for the local poor from 1877 to 1950. It represents the county poor farm method of handling social problems when little money was available for welfare. The poor house, storage building and cemetery convey that history and retain integrity.","narrative":"Saline County Poor Farm in Harrisburg, Illinois, preserves the surviving core of a county-run home for the poor. Of the original 175 acres, 3.46 remain, holding a 2 ½-story brick poor house built in 1877 in a modified Italianate style, a board-and-batten storage building, and a separate cemetery across Feazel Street. A matching addition around 1904 doubled the house in size. Inside, the first floor housed the superintendent's family, the second floor held small sleeping rooms for residents, and the basement contained the kitchen. The county bought the land in 1863 and first used log buildings before building the brick house. The farm reflects the shift from auctioning paupers to individual caretakers toward housing them in a county almshouse. It is recognized for its role in local social welfare between 1877 and 1950. Buildings moved onto the site in 1961 now serve a museum but are not counted as contributing resources.","period_of_significance":"1877-1950","architect_builder":"Winterberger, A., Builder","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Now used as a museum (Saline Creek Pioneer Museum) and cemetery; several unrelated historic buildings moved onto the site in 1961 do not contribute.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.001963-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/98/8939/28893998/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/00001048.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001048/87435f5965-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001048/87435f5965-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saline_County_Poor_Farmhouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saline_County_Poor_Farmhouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893998","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saline_County_Poor_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15274587"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/saline-county/saline-county-poor-farm-00001048/"}