The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia

by S. J. Quinn

It is not stated in what part of the town the first poor house was located, but for many years before the Civil war it was located on the Lang property, near Gunnery spring, and afterwards the poor were quartered in a brick house near the western limit of Princess Elizabeth street, which was rented for the purpose and which is now owned by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company.

After the war, for about eighteen years, the poor were maintained at the private houses, with such families as would agree to take them. In some instances the town paid rent for the houses for the families who would take one of the poor, and in others a stipulated amount per month for their maintenance. This manner of providing for the poor caused much complaint, both from the city and its dependents. The city authorities charged that the cost per capita was entirely too much, running annually in the aggregate from two to three thousand dollars, and the poor complained that they were neglected in both food and clothing.

But the overseer of the poor (the number having been reduced from five to one under the city ordinances) aided and assisted by a committee of three from the Common Council, could do no better with the facilities at his disposal, and while the subject continued to be discussed the Council had been slow in making any change. This inaction, however, was not because the citizens did not favor providing better methods for taking care of the poor, because the public favored it, and the necessity was recognized, but because no member felt willing to take the lead in such a movement.

In the Fall of 1882 a case of small pox broke out in town, and, strange as it may appear, it caused the erection of the present almshouse. The small pox case occurred near the corner of Princess Ann and Frederick streets. The citizens in that part of the town became greatly alarmed and a stampede was threatened. An extra session of the Common Council was called in haste, to make arrangements for the removal of the patient (a colored man) to some isolated place. The Council met and discussed the matter, but it was found that there was no place to which he could be moved. The town owned no land where a temporary hospital could be erected, and land owners declined to rent to the city, for spreading a tent or for erecting a temporary hospital.

In this condition of things the economy of having an almshouse, in which to keep the poor, entered very largely into the discussion, and the result was the farm and residence of Mr. Frank Beckwith, on the hill about half a mile west of the town, was purchased for seventeen hundred dollars. The small pox patient, to the great delight of the citizens in the lower end of town, was at once sent to that place and the excitement subsided.

The following year the residence on the farm was greatly enlarged and a commodious department for the colored poor was built, under the direction of the Committee on Poor of the Common Council, consisting of Messrs. S. J. Quinn, E. D. Cole and M. B. Rowe, and the dependent poor of the town were sent to “Mount Nebo,” which was the name given to the place, because of its commanding position and the splendid view of the town and surrounding country from that point.

Since the poor have been kept at the almshouse they are better provided for and are better satisfied, besides they are more comfortable than under the former system, and the expense of maintaining them has been reduced fully one-half. Mr. Albert Hooton, who was overseer of the poor of the town prior to the erection of the almshouse, was the first superintendent of the institution. Mr. Hooton died on the 23rd of November, 1897, and Mr. John Wesley Ball was elected to the vacancy and is now serving. Mr. A. Mason Garner is chairman of the committee of the Council having the almshouse in charge, and while it is conducted on economical principles, the poor are well provided for, in both food and clothing.

WATER WORKS.

For more than one hundred years after the charter by the House of Burgesses the town was without water works of any description. About the year 1832 a private company constructed the Poplar Springs Water Works, which distributed through the principal streets of the town the elegant water from Poplar springs, located on the Plank road, half a mile west of the city. About ten years afterwards the Smith spring was added, which increased the supply. But notwithstanding the addition of the Smith spring the supply was very inadequate; yet for more than half a century these springs, together with street pumps, furnished the only supply the town had. The works were constructed by a Northern contractor, whose name is not remembered, and are yet operated. Since the Civil war these works were under the superintendency of Captain Joseph W. Sener, until his death, in 1889, since which time Mr. Robert Lee Stoffregen has been superintendent.

The inadequacy of the water supply for domestic and manufacturing purposes, and the great necessity for fire protection, were subjects for the consideration of the Common Council for many years, without definite action. On several occasions committees were instructed to have surveys and estimates made for a system of water works, which were done and recommendations had been made by some of the committees that works should be constructed, but the Council in each case had failed to act upon them. As a case of small pox contributed to the erection of a long-needed almshouse, so a fire, that threatened the town with destruction, showing the authorities how helpless they were when confronted by flames, contributed to the construction of water works.