It started in 1829, and an estimated 1,400 burials are at Niagara County’s first Poorhouse Cemetery on Niagara Street Extension. They are hidden away but not forgotten, as the county Maintenance Department does a great job of clearing the path to what remains. Just off Niagara Street Extension, across from the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office, is a large memorial rock with a historical plaque and a right-of-way to the cemetery. This was done years ago with the help of Niagara County Legislator Bill Ross and Niagara County Historian Catherine Emerson.
The people who died in our poorhouses (1829 through the 1960s), included those without family support or needing a higher level of care. They were from Lockport, Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, Porter, Wilson, Middleport, and all the small towns and crossroads in between. They were the early settlers, farmers, canal laborers, veterans and families who endured tragedy. An analysis of the available records (1860s-1965) shows that the poorhouse served as a local infirmary and old folks home. Decades before scientifically based medicine, Medicaid, Social Security, or specialized facilities, it cared for those with infirmities such as consumption (tuberculosis), severe disabilities, and old age. Although it used general county funds, it also billed for individual residents in county towns, villages, and hamlets, so the poorhouse cemeteries contain burials from throughout Niagara County. These two graveyards belong to all of us.
The worthy and unworthy poor
In Niagara County, this was a determined “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” era, so at the time there were two rough classifications of the poor: the worthy or deserving, and the undeserving or unworthy.
In the worthy poor group, you would find widows, orphan children, and the elderly.
The unworthy group was labeled as lazy or morally corrupt, although a review of the death records shows that these were residents who lacked the supports we have today.
The philosophy was that “Everyone worked according to their ability” on the poorhouse’s farms, which produced goods to help defray the cost of operations.
Annual cleanup event
I never have any trouble recruiting volunteers — as soon as summer arrives, I start getting the emails.
Every year, a group of concerned individuals cleans the forgotten burial grounds to honor those interred there. Today, we have two historians: Pete Ames from the Town of Niagara and Melissa Schaeffer, president of the Town of Newfane Historical Society Board of Directors. Also on the crew are two local individuals who deserve recognition for years of unrecognized volunteer work with our cemeteries: Kyla Rice and Mark McCabe, both of whom are board members of Glenwood Cemetery. Representing the Niagara History Center Board of Directors, I carry water and take pictures. Niagara Produce donates plants through its owners, Richard Dorr and his daughter, Judy Cheski. Orleans Monument in Lockport has always been very helpful with gravestone work.
Niagara County Infirmary, the second poorhouse
This year, we also organized an effort to honor the thousands buried at the second County Poorhouse on Davison Road in Lockport, known as the Infirmary. The Infirmary opened in 1916 on land purchased from several landowners, which became the poorhouse farm. There are reliable records of deaths at this facility, which we are compiling into a searchable database. There are only two gravestones left, one for the adults and one for the children.
These two cemeteries are maintained in good condition under the direction of Jeff Gaston of the Niagara County Building and Grounds Department and his crew.
Future projects include continuing to recognize these less fortunate Niagara County residents, recognizing the veterans in the graveyards, and seeking a historical plaque for the Davidson Road Infirmary Cemetery, similar to the one installed at the Niagara Street Poorhouse.