Walla Walla to Build New County Poor House
After inspecting neighboring Whitman County, local commissioners decide to move from a contract-based system to a county-owned brick facility.
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The erection of a home on the county poor farm, under consideration by the board of commissioners for several months, was formally decided upon yesterday. Actual work will not commence until the board considers plans at the September meeting. An architect has been empowered to draw up plans for a brick building not to exceed $15,000 in cost. The decision followed an inspection trip to other counties. In Whitman County, the total cost for caring for the poor did not exceed $3,000 last year, while Walla Walla County's contract system cost $2,100 per annum, with contagion adding $7,000. Commissioners intend to emulate Whitman County’s methods, where the superintendent and his family manage the farm and a specialized employee handles sanitation and disinfection. The board believes this move will save the county several thousand dollars annually.
“Whitman county's methods of dealing with her poor and contagion was found to be as nearly perfect as possible and it is the intention of the hoard to Copy after those methods.”
This reflects an early 20th-century shift toward institutionalized public welfare, moving away from decentralized contracts toward centralized, municipal management of the unhoused and vulnerable. Today’s debates in the Walla Walla Valley regarding public resources for the unhoused continue to grapple with the same tension between cost-efficiency, moral obligation, and municipal oversight.
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