The historical society plans to renovate the poorhouse’s bedrooms. Courtesy | Morgan Morrison

The Hillsdale County Historical Society plans to finish restoring the interior of the Will Carleton Poorhouse by the end of this year.

“We’d like to turn the poorhouse into one of those living history sites where you walk through the doors of the poorhouse and you see it as Will Carleton would have seen it back in the 19th century,” said Morgan Morrison ’21, a board member of the historical society.

To complete the project, the historical society applied for and received a $5,000 grant from Americana Corner, an online resource that aims to preserve American history.

Carleton was an 1869 Hillsdale College alumnus who was one of the most famous poets of his time. As a student, Carleton visited the Hillsdale poorhouse to hear stories from its residents. This inspired him to write his most celebrated poem, “Over the Hill to the Poorhouse.”

“Back then, poets were like rock stars,” said Buddy Moorehouse, adjunct professor of documentary filmmaking. “When a poet came to your town to read his poetry, it was like Beyoncé coming to your town to perform.”

When the historical society purchased the poorhouse in 1987, they honored Carleton by naming the poorhouse after him, according to the group’s website.

Morrison said the society plans to transform the rooms upstairs into bedrooms like those where the paupers would have stayed.

“This will include putting many beds inside of there and chests where the personal belongings of each pauper would have been,” Morrison said. “The dormitories will be separated between male and female.”

Tom Hand, founder of Americana Corner, said he wanted to find a way to remind Americans about the great country they live in. After he and his wife retired from owning Gilman Cheese Corporation in Wisconsin, he started Americana Corner in 2020.

“Tom’s an extraordinary man with a very keen interest in preserving the history of early America and preserving it through old history sites,” Morrison said.

Hand said he started the organization’s grant program in 2022 to assist groups in telling American stories at their historical sites. The organization gave away $440,000 in grants in 2022 and $913,000 in 2023.

“Lord willing, next year it will be even more than that,” Hand said.

Hand said he and his wife are friends of the college, where they recently agreed to start an Americana Corner scholarship.

Morrison said the poorhouse tells the story of early Hillsdale County and how early America treated paupers. He said the poorhouse was for those who needed help but were also willing to apply themselves and be responsible.

“They went by the biblical principle ‘If you shall not work, you shall not eat,’ and they were very serious about that,” Morrison said. “So if someone was a vagrant just passing through and causing disturbances, then that person would not be part of the poorhouse.”

Moorehouse said Carleton’s poem changed the way Americans viewed the elderly.

“Restoring the poorhouse is such a wonderful thing because it’s going to help more people realize who Will Carleton was,” Moorehouse said. “His name is everywhere in Hillsdale, but very few people know who he really was.”

The historical society purchased the abandoned poorhouse in 1987 to save it from demolition by Bob Evans Farms, Morrison said. Since then, more than $100,000 has been spent renovating it. Morrison said the interior renovations should reach completion by the middle of December.

“The Will Carleton Poorhouse is part of the American story,” Hand said. “These sorts of places are important to me because they’re all part of the fabric of America.”