The Portsmouth Poor Farm
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Poor Farm / Strawbery Banke ArchiveStrawbery Banke Presents
HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH #123

Forget welfare checks or declaring bankruptcy in the good old days. Portsmouth was among the first towns in New England to build an almshouse in 1711. This larger brick "poor farm" was built in 1834 beyond North Mill Pond on Myrtle Street. It could accommodate 250 inmates who labored on 170 city-owned acres.

 

 

HISTORIC PHOTOS of the Greater Portsmouth Area appear here weekly

Portsmouth, NH Poor Farm (c) Strawbery Banke Archive on SeacoastNH.com

From HISTORIC PORTSMOUTH
Early Photographs from the Collections of Strawbery Banke
by James L. Garvin & Susan Grigg, Peter Randall Publisher
(c) Strawbery Banke Museum . All rights reserved

BONUS CLOSE-UP
(are those people working in the fields?)
Work Farm detail /SeacoastNH.com