Winnebago County Institutions

Winnebago County Institutions. . , This area encompassing approximately 580 acres and expanding has been purchased by Winnebago County over the span of many decades beginning in 1865. Four facilities, Winnebago County Asylum, Poor Farm, Poor House, and Sunny View Sanitorium, were constructed here to administer the care for and treatment of the county's cognitively disabled, chronically ill, poor, elderly, and those diagnosed with psychological disorders. Joseph Jackson, a pioneer settler of Oshkosh, was an early advocate for the care of the poor. Elected chairman of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors in 1846, Jackson oversaw the county's early efforts of public relief. The first county facility, known as the Poor Farm, was constructed near this site in 1871 to care for the poor and the mentally ill. In addition, several agricultural buildings were erected for self-sustainability and provided work for able-bodied patients. The renowned Oshkosh architect William Waters was hired several years later to design new facilities. The Winnebago County Insane Asylum was built on this site in 1893 at a cost of $83,000 and stood until 1968 when it was demolished. A new Poor House was built in 1906 but was struck by lightning and burned down in 1944. North of here, the Sunny View Sanitorium was constructed in 1915 to care for tuberculosis patients. Today, the fairgrounds occupies the site of the former Sunny View Sanitorium and the county cemetery. In the 1960s the Poor Farm's acreage was transformed into the Winnebago County Community Park. The James P. Coughlin Center and Nature Preserve and Winnebago County behavioral health facility are built on the site where the barns, chicken coops, hog pens, and other agricultural outbuildings once stood. Parkview Health Center, successor to earlier institutions, provides award-winning rehabilitation and elderly care for county residents.