Dane County Home

Boarding houses and jails, deemed unsatisfactory for the County's "unfortunates", prompted establishment of the Dane County Poor Farm on this site in 1854. A two-story brick structure housed all the disadvantaged until 1883 when an asylum for the mentally ill was built a short distance to the north.<br><br>Both facilities added buildings and improvements as resident numbers and requirements increased, including a "Leper House" for infectious diseases, four miles south of the Farm. By 1900 the original 140 acres had increased to 624, providing farm products for the complex. The dairy operation was phased out during the 1960s.<br><br>From the original capacity of 80, the hospital/home population grew to nearly 600 by the 1970s. Many residents who died here were buried in the cemetery west of the hospital. The Badger Prairie Health Care Center now offers treatment for 140 county residents with special needs.