Life at the County Home: The Dutchess County Poorhouse and Infirmary, 1864-1998

From 1864 until 1998, Dutchess County government operated a facility to care for indigent and ill residents in the town of Washington. Initially consisting of a poor house, insane asylum, and pest house, this facility transformed into an almshouse in the 1870s, then into an infirmary in the 1930s. Drawing on surviving poorhouse records, newspaper accounts, and scrapbooks kept by residents, this presentation will explore how life for denizens of the poorhouse changed over its 134 years of operation.
This presentation was given by Will Tatum, Dutchess County Historian

[@willowtree1111]

If someone passed on at the poor house in the town Washington were would one apply for a copy of a death certificate. I am doing genealogy research and my great grandmother passed on there. I emailed Millbrook with no response. Would the town she is buried in have it? I am working on my DAR membership and need this document.

[@millbrookhistoricalsociety6220]

Hi, I think that if someone dies at the poor house, then you would have to contact the Town of Washington, not the Village of Millbrook.

[@willowtree1111]

@@millbrookhistoricalsociety6220 Town of Washington contact is a Millbrook address according to website.