Dr. Joe Squillace, MSW

Here are a series of my first videos on the location and information about “Poverty Hill” - three institutions in the Saint Louis Heights neighborhood (as it was formerly known): The County/City Poor House and Farm, The Insane Asylum/City Sanitarium, and the “Social Evil”/Female Hospital.

Part 1: the Saint Louis Poor House and Farm (1846-1870). Across from the Arsenal Schnucks.

Part 2: The Saint Louis Poor House and Farm 1870-1972.

Part 1: Saint Louis Poorhouse and Farm 1846-1870

Part 2: Saint Louis Poorhouse and Farm 1870-1917 (and 1923-1972)

My short video about the Mentally Ill at the Poorhouse, and the Insane Asylum/City Sanitarium

in progress

The Saint Louis Potter’s Field - “seldom a mourner accompanies the remains to the grave. And still more seldom are the silent sleepers ever visited by kith or kin. Nameless they lie under the sod, and the history of their past they usually take with them.” 

The Saint Louis Potter’s Field at the Poor House and Farm (Fyler and Hampton)

The Female Hospital, aka the “Social Evil Hospital”

Next

Then and Now