“The whole farm was under Pocahontas County’s authority until I bought the acreage with the barns in 2005,” said Kay Kordik, who previously lived on a farm across the road with her late husband, Robert Sr. “I joke that I live in Pocahontas County on the home for the poor and insane, and I’m the only one here!”

Sometimes called “poor farms,” county farms were common throughout Iowa for decades, starting in the mid- to late 1800s. These working farms, complete with barns, livestock, farmland and living quarters, provided a catch-all facility for indigent and dependent members of the community whose care ultimately became the responsibility of the local county government.

As early as 1884, the Pocahontas County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to buy a county farm of not less than 160 acres at a cost not to exceed $2,000, within four miles of Pocahontas. Progress on this plan stalled out until 1889, when three local men were appointed to a committee to select a suitable farm.

Based on the men’s recommendation, Pocahontas County purchased 262 acres of land in Section 4 of Grant Township in May 1890 for a total of $2,850, according to the 1904 book, “A Pioneer History of Pocahontas County.” Thomas Dean, a contractor and builder, constructed the house, barn and other outbuildings on the farm west of Pocahontas. “It was rented that year to Charles J. Carlson of Center Township, upon the condition that he should pay a rent of $240 a year for the farm and take proper care of all persons sent to the farm by the board, at the rate of $2.40 a week,” according to the history book.

-Farm News photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
Decorations adorn the exterior of the east barn.

The book also noted that Pocahontas County built a two-story, 60-foot-by-32-foot asylum with 41 rooms on the county farm in 1898 for $4,500. Through the years, the county farm had various tenants and caretakers.

Today, the house and the asylum are gone, replaced by the ranch-style home where Kordik lives.

The property also has two barns, including a west barn (which was likely built around 1890 to house horses), and a spacious east barn designed for dairy cows. Undated documentation (possibly circa 1940) in Kordik’s archives lists the specifications that Pocahontas County defined for the construction of the east barn, from Richards-Wilcox hardware for the sliding doors to Klauer or Louden cupolas with a metal base.

“All framing lumber, including sills, plates, studs, girts, joists, rafters, braces and ties shall be No. 1 fir,” added the document. “Ship-lap for floor shall be No. 2 white pine or its equal. Poles shall be cedar. Roof sheathing shall be 1×6 boards.”

The barns were daily centers of activity on the county farm for decades. Some residents at the county farm (whose occupancy reached 30 residents one winter during World War II) helped local farmers occasionally.

-Farm News photo by Darcy Dougherty Maulsby
This barn with the three cupolas is the east barn on this Grant Township acreage. The specifications for this barn called for Richards-Wilcox hardware for the sliding doors and Klauer or Louden cupolas with a metal base.

“My husband, Robert Sr., and I used to hire two men from the county farm to help bale hay and shell corn,” said Kordik, who has lived in Pocahontas County more than 70 years.

The Pocahontas County Board of Supervisors closed the county home in 1968 (back when the farm contained 335 acres of land) and auctioned off the farm equipment and livestock on Sept. 19, 1968.

Francis and Linda Madsen moved to the farm around 1969-1970 and lived there until about 2005.

“The barns were in good shape when we moved here,” said Francis Madsen of Pocahontas, who noted that Pocahontas County installed red steel siding on the barns while he and Linda lived on the farm. “I had 15 hog crates in the east barn and farrowed hogs in there. I used the west barn to finish the hogs, plus I raised some cattle in that barn.”

Today, the barns on Kordik’s acreage provide extra storage and a home for 10 barn cats.

“Barns and fences are two things that used to be common that you don’t see much anymore,” said Kordik, who noted that Pocahontas County still owns the former county farm’s farmland.

“The farm will have a new tenant next year who will pay cash rent for a term of four years. This is supposed to help a young farmer get started in farming.”