Pittsford
Area Schools
9304
Hamilton
Pittsford,
MI 49271
517-523-3481
THE WILL CARLETON POORHOUSE
The poorhouse is a cobblestone structure that
still stands on the outskirts of Hillsdale, where Carleton was a student when
he wrote the poem " Over the Hill to the Poorhouse" just after the
Civil War. Some say he wrote this poem after he talked to the elderly lady who
owned it.
The Poorhouse is located at 200 Wolcott
Street, in Hillsdale, Michigan.
The county poor farm was where widows and
other dependent on handouts were sent by judges. It was in operation for only
15 years, before it burned in 1869. The fire in 1869 completely gutted the
stone house, but its walls still held. The original building was restored and
served the poor until 1955.