The Redwood County Poor Farm (or Poorhouse) was a county run institution serving impoverished and aged people in Redwood Falls, Minnesota, United States, from 1884 to 1889 and again from 1909 to 1967, when it was converted to a nursing home. Today the building houses the Redwood County Museum, which is operated by the Redwood County Historical Society. There are 30 rooms of local history and cultural exhibits, including such period rooms as a living room, dining room, kitchen, general store, military room, and doctor's office. There are also three natural history rooms with local wildlife, Native American artifacts, musical instruments, toys and period clothing. A one-room school building is on the grounds. The museum is open on weekends from May through October. Institutional History Location The Redwood County Poor Farm was constructed at its current location in 1907; prior to this there had been another poor farm. In 1884, a site was purchased in the Sherman Township for three thousand dollars. This poor farm was on one hundred and sixty acres, had a nine-room house and was located approximately thirteen miles from the county seat of Redwood Falls. According to the Redwood County Commissioner Meeting minutes (January 3, 1889), the vast majority of the costs from the facility came from providing medical care, followed by food costs. At that same meeting, it was decided that the farm would be sold for three thousand two hundred dollars with a sale/move out date of February 5, 1889. The reason given for the sale was the “premises is not properly located, convenient or adapted for the purpose of a ‘County Poor Farm.’” It “is for the best interest of said County to sell said premises and purchase more convenient and better adapted for “Poor Farm” purposes.” At the Commissioner Meeting on April 18th 1899, the board was approached with a proposition signed by twenty-nine citizens of Morgan (approximately fourteen miles from Redwood Falls). The proposition stated that the village was willing to provide either “$1,000 for creation and construction of a building within one mile of town” or a “deed for forty acres.” The board passed a motion to accept the deed. Commissioners had a change of mind, however, apparently based on the inconvenience of overseeing a farm at a distance from the courthouse. The Morgan group protested the action, and on January 2, 1900, the case went to court. District Judge