{"nrhp_refnum":"82001115","name":"Cortland County Poor Farm","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE of Cortland off NY 13","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cortland","county":"Cortland County","state":"NY","lat":42.627555187500064,"lon":-76.13270215391785,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-10-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A working county poor farm of about 112 acres northeast of Cortland, New York, on the former Judge John Keep farm, bought by the county in 1836. The complex has thirteen buildings, including brick institutional buildings of about 1873 and 1878 and several agricultural outbuildings.","why_significant":"The farm has served as the site of the county's welfare programs since 1836 and reflects nineteenth-century humanitarian reform and county administration under New York's 1820s county farm program. It is among the last such poor farms in the state still intact and in use. It is also tied to Judge John Keep, an early settler, and its buildings form a distinctive group of vernacular design.","narrative":"Northeast of Cortland, New York, this county poor farm covers about 112 acres beside the East Branch of the Tioughnioga River. Cortland County bought the land in 1836 from the estate of Judge John Keep, an early settler, after the state authorized a poorhouse. The purchase followed a state program from the 1820s that required counties to maintain farms where paupers could work. By the 1870s overcrowding led to a new brick main building, built around 1873 from plans drawn by local contractor Cyrus Straat, and an asylum was added in 1878 to separate insane inmates. Older Keep-era buildings were moved to the new site and reused, including a chapel or schoolhouse and a cell building. Barns, piggeries and other outbuildings sit to the north and east. Red and white paint, gable roofs and six-over-six windows unify the group. Cortland County still runs it as a working farm supporting welfare programs, which makes it one of the last intact poor farms in New York.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899, 1900- (specific dates 1820; 1873)","architect_builder":"various; plans for the main building drawn by local contractor Cyrus Straat with the county building committee","architectural_style":"Utilitarian vernacular","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still a working farm owned by Cortland County, in good condition and used to support its welfare programs.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.453071-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/82001115.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001115/55f51b77c2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001115/55f51b77c2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CORTLAND_COUNTY_POOR_FARM,_CORTLAND_COUNTY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerrye &amp;amp; Roy Klotz, MD</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CORTLAND_COUNTY_POOR_FARM,_CORTLAND_COUNTY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317135","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortland_County_Poor_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5173344"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/cortland-county/cortland-county-poor-farm-82001115/"}