Did you know that Monroe County once had a poor farm?

No, it was not an eroded, soil-exhausted piece of land but rather a home for indigent persons in the county. Paupers were a problem for county government for decades in the 19th century and the emancipation of slaves increased the number of needy. In 1870, Moses Potts, as ordinary, purchased for the county 212 acres of the Coleman Goodwyne place to house the county’s poor. Ultimately the commissioners decided this was not a satisfactory arrangement and in 1878 sold the farm to Charles W. Center for $3,780 less than what Potts paid for it eight years before. The poor farm seems to have been in the area of the current Hubbard complex on Highway 83.