In 1816, the Wayne County Commissioners took over supervision of the local poor and homeless population. The commissioners established the Wayne County Infirmary in 1852 which housed children and orphans who needed access to education. The Infirmary housed and educated Wayne County children until the construction of the new Children’s Home in March 1882. The county built the Children’s Home to “furnish an asylum for indigent children under age 16 where they are to be provided with physical, moral, and mental training.”
After 1882, the former Infirmary became a smokehouse. Nineteenth century families required up to one beef every six weeks, four hogs per month, and twenty-six chickens for one Sunday dinner, so the building was kept full. Even today, the interior of the County Home building on the WCHS campus is completely covered with soot from the smoke.
In 2012, the County Home gave the building to the Wayne County Historical Society. The Society reconstructed the building as it was originally in 1852.
