Poor Farm Ditch has a seemingly paradoxical name.

The human-made ditch, built in the 1950s, runs through a part of Houston that includes the affluent cities of Southside Place and West University Place. However, the ditch's name harkens back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, a time when the area served as a thriving farm for low-income and senior individuals.

Taking a step back

In Harris County’s early days, county commissioners purchased land to create “poor houses,” where lower income populations could live.

On May 12, 1894, commissioners purchased 200 acres of land for the county’s second poor farm for $6,000 from Theo Keller. The property roughly extended north of Bellaire Boulevard to somewhere north of present-day Bissonnet Street. Its eastern boundary line is approximately where the present Poor Farm Ditch can be found, according to historical databases.

The poor farm’s location also includes West University Place. Low-income populations lived on the far northern edge of the property.

A newspaper article from the Houston Daily Post published July 25, 1915, described the Poor Farm as being surrounded by a variety of trees including chinaberry, cottonwood and live oak trees. The grounds were filled with flowers, white buildings and “nothing like the home of the poor.” The farm was well-managed and comfortable for those who were old and alone, according to the article.

At the time the article was published, the farm had 68 residents. True to its name, it functioned as a farm with ten acres of corn, a large vegetable garden, at least 400 chickens, and numerous cattle, pigs, ducks and geese.

Looking back

The fate of the farm took a turn in the 1920s when developers began buying property and selling homesites on land adjacent to Poor Farm. Harris County commissioners at the time noted how the property value had gone up exponentially and decided to sell the property and disband the green pastures.

Yet it wasn’t the end for the residents who called Poor Farm home. By 1921, county commissioners, led by County Judge Chester Bryan, used $80,000 from county officer collection fees to purchase approximately 100 acres in eastern Harris County. There, they built facilities for low income and senior populations, both white and African American. By March 1922, 75 eligible residents were transferred to the new facility, which was called Harris County Home for the Aged.

At Harris County Home for the Aged, the new homes were described as a vast improvement compared to the shacks that housed residents in Poor Farm. Abuse of power by various county departments and officials led to disarray within the home’s intake policy, according to county archives. As a result, chronic alcoholics, persons suffering from mental illnesses, as well as young people who didn’t need the county’s assistance to care for themselves, filled the county property.

After World War II, elder assistance programs such as social security helped reduce the number of poor seniors. Harris County commissioners closed the home in August 1958, more than 35 years after first opening. The home’s last residents were transferred to private nursing homes by the end of the year.

The rising property value in the former site of the county’s Poor Farm near present-day West University Place became of interest to developers in the 1920s. On Oct. 1, 1923, the county sold the land to Charles Wood, who offered $500 an acre for the 200 acres site. Wood and two other developers, W.D. Haden and D.T. Austin, began developing what is now Southside Place and West University Place.

Proper drainage in the land became a problem as the new lots flooded during heavy rains in the area. A.D. Foreman became the exclusive agent for developing West U and worked with county commissioners for three years to create a solution to the problem.

By 1923, Drainage District No. 12 was created. A bond issue was approved by residents, and Brays Bayou was subsequently deepened, widened and straightened. Drainage District No. 12 later became known as Poor Farm Ditch and, in 1928, the ditch was dredged.

Current situation

While flooding was a problem during the early days of West U and Southside Place, infrastructure and drainage investments are in place by city and county officials to address stormwater capacity.

Jack Stopnicki serves as the Brays Bayou Association vice president and said he has lived next to Poor Farm Ditch for decades. He gives credit to the Harris County Flood Control District for improvements and rehabilitation to Brays Bayou, which he said allow storm water to flow through the system quickly.

“It’s made a big difference. Even after we just had Hurricane [Beryl], within an hour after the rain stopped, the water was already going down. It was incredible to see how fast the water drained off,” Stopnicki said.