Come learn about Coshocton County's infirmary

Coshocton County's original infirmary began in 1847 before the Civil War and was discontinued in 1983.

The original home was torn down, and a new facility was built to replace it in 1976. Another name for the infirmary was the Poorhouse and the County Home. In 1877 there were 2,273 children in poorhouses from 82 counties of Ohio.

This year's two-day Tiverton Institute will be held Wednesday, March 4 and Thursday, March 5. The institute will be held in the Tiverton Grange Hall, located on County Road 20 in Tiverton at the junction of state Route 206.

You will be impressed by the program, speakers, musicians and youth activities that have been planned by grange members Denny and Pat Tumblin. The institute is being held at Tiverton Grange #1515 (of all the granges formed in Ohio). It was chartered Jan. 9, 2026. Good grief!

I just realized while typing this letter that our county's Tiverton Grange is 100 years old! Almost every township in our county (22) had a grange. Now there are only three granges left in Coshocton County: Tiverton Grange, Progressive Valley and Keene Grange.

At approximately 1:45 p.m. Thursday, March 5, the second day of the institute, my wonderful husband of 63 years will present a program on the Coshocton County Infirmary, also known as the County Home. In 2007 Glenn wrote a two-volume book about the Coshocton County Infirmary. It was located on 200-plus acres east of Coshocton on County Road 16, on the site of our current Head Start program. The land encompassed rolling hills that bordered the present-day Coshocton County Animal Shelter.

One of the things that impressed me appeared on page 41 of Glenn's Volume I. It had many "reasons for admission to Poorhouse," which were listed alphabetically: alcoholism, attempted suicide, blind, broken leg, brought by sheriff, consumption, cripple, crippled by accident, delicate condition, derelict, destitute, diabetic, disability, drug addict, drunkenness, dumb, dwarf, epileptic, feebleminded, frozen feet, heart trouble, helpless, homeless, idiotic, imbecile, immorality and drunkenness, insane, lunacy, lying in (whatever that is), mute, no home, old age, paralysis, paralytic, place of birth, poor eyes, poor health, rheumatism, sick, stroke, syphilis, unable to get work, and weak-minded.

The thing that impressed me the most about our County Home is that it was a home. They tended to animals: beef cattle, milking cows, goats, chickens and had dogs. They also had a big garden and raised corn, beets, cabbages, turnips, et cetera. And the women would do canning of the vegetables.

Each person had their own room, which was decorated with pictures on the wall and other reminders of "home." We learned when a person or a couple would go there to visit their relative, they actually visited with everybody there. It was not an institution. It was a home.

The women lived on one side of the building, and the men lived on another side. They would all gather in the dining room for programs and eat popcorn together. In fact, when the County Home was moved from the three-story brick home to what's the Head Start facility, Glenn would take his father Harold Kinkade Jr. there to help him show his old-time movies to all of them. He would take his 16-mm projector and show black and white movies of Laurel & Hardy, the Keystone Cops, Charlie Chaplin, et cetera.

There are many people today in our county who are descended from someone who was a superintendent or a matron at the County Home or who had a relative who lived there. Each person has shared the wonderful feeling of "home" and "family" they remember. I think you will enjoy my husband's program and realize there was a special atmosphere at our County Home, where each person was valued as a person who had a name and who wore their own clothes. They were up and about and doing things including chores and other helpful things.