OPINION: Ex-Poor Farm Site is Rich in Open Space
By Tom Koenninger, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.
Feb. 7–Most of the former County Poor Farm’s 79 acres — presently an agricultural research station site south of 78th Street in Hazel Dell — seem destined for open space and not commercial or residential use.
That would be a pleasant rarity for Clark County, known for button-busting commercial and residential growth.
For a time, it appeared the lower portion of the green space might be converted to commercial property, while the upper area, with its views of Mount St. Helens, would make way for townhouses.
Thankfully, that prospect appears less likely now.
Former blueberry grower and present County Commissioner Marc Boldt said he wants to see the land become ball fields and a park.
Boldt said a deed was signed Nov. 14, 1949, between the county and the State College of Washington (Washington State University), selling the land to WSU for $1 “for the furtherance of agricultural and farm experiments beneficial to the farmers of Clark County.” The deed stipulated the land would revert to county ownership if WSU ceased using it for six months as an agricultural station. While some experimental plots exist there, WSU has shifted staff and other agricultural experiments to Puyallup and Mount Vernon.
Bud Van Cleve, president of the Northeast Hazel Dell Neighborhood Association, is another enthusiast for keeping most of the land as open space. He envisions ball fields, trails and maybe a community center. The original buildings remain on the property.
The site is historic. It was a farm for the county’s poor, homeless, elderly and disabled men and women from the late 1800s to the 1940s. The land also contains the Poor Farm or Marble Mount Cemetery, final resting place for 200 people, many of them indigents.
A June 19, 1936, clipping from the archives of The Columbian describes the farm home as “a frame one-story stucco building with a partial second story and a basement ? on a tract of 100 acres, 72 of them under cultivation as the county farm.”
The farm had a capacity of 38 residents, who were described as “inmates.” It cost $7,000 annually to operate and was run by a “husky young farm couple from the Ridgefield district, Mr. and Mrs. John Gretsch, and two (paid) assistants.”
The article noted the farm produces everything for its own use, with 16 head of dairy cattle “three big Chester White brood sows (hogs)” 750 chickens, 840 pounds of berries, 13 turkeys and a surplus of potatoes.
A transition of purpose
By 1979, county agriculture was becoming a memory, and WSU announced it did not need the research station, a decision that generated opposition from local farmers.
Then, in 2004, the county and WSU considered selling the land and splitting the proceeds. Part of the money would pay the cost of relocating the experiment station to the WSU-Vancouver campus. The joint sale idea has been abandoned by the county, along with moving the station to the local campus. The public indicated it wants more open space, not commercial activity.
Hal Dengerink, chancellor of WSUV, noted there is an irrigation well and some research plots on the acreage. “It’s up to WSU Pullman and the county commissioners to work something out,” he said.
Blair Wolfley, manager of the Vancouver research and extension unit and southwest district extension director, expects a decision soon.
Meanwhile, Van Cleve wants an adjustment in the fence that cut 5 acres off the 20-acre Hazel Dell Park that joins the Poor Farm property.
Access to the Hazel Dell county park is from 68th Street. Besides a walking trail and athletic fields, Van Cleve mentioned a habitat study area for wildlife.
Possibilities abound to create a model of open space for Hazel Dell residents. Wolfley hopes a transition will occur that is “mutually beneficial to the community.”
That is the hope for all of us. Open space –green space –is precious in Clark County. Swarms of homes and apartments now smother earth that once sprouted trees, corn, string beans and strawberries.
We can’t create new land. We must save what’s left for our children.
Tom Koenninger is editor emeritus of The Columbian. His column of personal opinion appears on the Other Opinions page each Wednesday. Reach him at tom.koenninger@columbian.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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