Tyler County Home

Tyler County

2017 Update: No updates have been made available to PAWV in the past six months.

As of the last update to PAWV in January 2017, no physical progress has been made towards rehabilitating this historic property since its 2009 listing on PAWV’s Endangered Properties list.  Tyler County Home, also known as the “Poor Farm,” is currently owned by the Tyler County Commissioners, and the property is leased to the Fair Association.  In early 2016, ten concerned community members who are passionate about preserving this piece of Tyler County history formed the Tyler County Restoration Committee; they elected Peggy George as its president.  Within nine months, the group successfully fundraised $10,000 for the building’s rehabilitation.  The building remains vacant and continues to deteriorate due to frequent vandalism and severe water damage (from a leaking roof and from box gutters and downspouts that are in desperate need of stabilization and replacement).  The Restoration Committee plans to continue its fundraising efforts in 2017, as well as to conduct a survey to assess the community’s interest in preserving and repurposing the County Home.  The members will present their fundraising and survey efforts to the County Commissioners in early 2017. The hope is that they will be able to work together with the County Commissioners to obtain additional funding (such as historic preservation grants) and to get started on the long process of rehabilitating this property.

2009: Also known as the “Poor Farm” or the “Poor House,” the County Home was built early in 1915. The home and associated pauper’s cemetery are a testament to the forgotten disadvantaged and poor who struggled to help build this county and state. The building itself is now idle and serves primarily as storage for old surplus equipment of the County and County Fair Board, and Emergency Management. Water intrusion continues to further damage the building interior and exterior. The County has had insufficient funds to maintain the building and it has slowly deteriorated. Fortunately, lack of funds has also prevented the County from demolishing the building. 

Download 2009 Report