Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023

In the early 1900s, hoboes and tramps didn’t get on trains by going to a ticket counter, buying a ticket, boarding a train, and taking their seat assignment. They couldn’t do this because they lacked the money. Tramps traveled or wandered through on foot, trying to find work.

So, the hoboes and tramps would try to sneak aboard trains, and hide themselves in places where they remained undetected until the train departed. They hid on the roof of a train car, or on the platform between two cars, or inside of a freight car. They undertook this difficult feat, accepting its life-threatening nature in return for free travel. Hoboes and tramps would often stop at those homes where people would give them food, often for them helping for a short time.

Merriam Junction was in the northwestern part of Louisville Township, near the present-day site of the Renaissance Festival. From its onset, the community was conceived as a transportation hub. It was located at the crossing of two major railroad lines – the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad and the St. Paul and Sioux City. The crossing was an active transfer point for regional travelers, according to the Scott County Historical Society.

Mack Christensen was one of those tramps.

He was taken from a boxcar at Merriam Junction. At the community’s height, an average of twenty trains went through Merriam Junction each day, according to the Scott County Historical Society. With such a high rate of mobility in the population, Merriam Junction developed a local reputation for being home to transitory communities.

Christensen entered the car in Marshalltown, Iowa a week prior, intending to go as far as Newton, Iowa. During the trip, the train boxcar was locked, and Christensen was unable to escape. He was exposed to the cold and suffered from starvation.

The boxcar was brought as far as Merriam Junction, where the car was shunted onto a sidetrack on Sunday. The man was not discovered until Wednesday morning when a passing trainman heard him groaning and opened the car.

Mack Christensen was taken to the poor house, where Dr. H. P. Fischer attended to him.

Almost immediately after statehood, Minnesota counties began providing “indoor relief” care for the needy in poor houses. “Inmates” (as they were known then) included the very poor, the elderly, the disabled, the mentally ill, epileptics, abandoned children, unwed mothers, and the occasional drunk and petty thief, according to “Look back: A history of ‘Poor farm’” in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

At the time, a poor house was thought to be more economical than giving aid directly to individuals. Poor farms were considered superior to poor houses because a well-run farm could break even or turn a profit. People believed that poor relief was public responsibility, and one that the city was responsible. Anyone who had relatives capable of caring for them could be denied relief, and paupers who were able to work should be forced to work, including children.

States used various methods to provide poor relief, according to Dan Gunderson on Minnesota Public Radio. Some sold poor people to the lowest bidder. The winning bidder was responsible for the care of the person and had total control of the pauper.

As poor relief developed, most states turned to poor houses. In rural states they were called poor farms. In Minnesota, 63 of the 87 counties operated a poor farm at some time between the 1850s and 1950s, including the poor house in Shakopee, which was located in a large two-and-a-half-story limestone building at the corner of Fourth and Atwood Street, south of St. Mark’s Church. It had been St. Gertrude’s Convent and Academy since 1866 until Father Alois Plut, pastor of St. Mark’s and intensely German, decided in 1878 to refused to reemploy the Benedictine Sisters as teachers because he contended that they were unable to teach German properly. It closed in 1880, and then Scott County took over and used it as a poor house.

It was thought poor houses would be a more efficient way of caring for the poor, thus reducing costs for local government. It was also anticipated that by forcing people to go to a less than pleasant place if they wanted public assistance, many poor could be discouraged from seeking help. In some states, including Minnesota, thousands of poor people who were not U.S. citizens were deported when they asked for public assistance, according to Gunderson in his radio interview.

Most of the people on poor farms were unable to work, because of physical or mental disability. Some did help on poor farms, caring for animals, cutting wood, or working in the kitchen. Others picked up odd jobs in local communities. “In general, most of the men were a hard lot with habits characteristic of their type. Occasionally some would indulge in too many spirits and the sheriff would have to take them home, otherwise they walked both ways.”

Poor houses were also designed to change the behavior and character of inmates. This idea was based on the classification of poor as “worthy” and “unworthy.” Unworthy poor were considered to have character flaws, which were often listed as the reason they were in the poor house. Mental illness was common among poor house residents, as was alcoholism. A 1925 report criticized states for allowing “the insane and intelligent poor people to mingle freely.”

By the early 1900s, mostly elderly people lived in poorhouses. The level of care these people received depended largely on the moral and social conscience of the community where the poor house was located.

Mack Christensen was sent to the Shakopee Poor House in 1950. He was nearly famished, and his hands and feet were so badly frozen that they were amputated.

Mack gave his address as Dixie, Illinois, but expressed a wish that relatives there should not be informed of his plight. Dr. Fischer disregarded the request and tried to communicate with his family. No word was received from his relatives.

Three weeks after he had been frozen in a boxcar at Merriam Junction, his feet were amputated, and he suffered greatly at the poor house, Mack Christiansen died.

He was buried at the Valley Cemetery in the pauper field.

Bibliography

Ash, Stephanie Wilbur. “Look back: A history of ‘Poor farm.’” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 24 Aug. 2010.

Gunderson, Dan. “A history of the poorfarm.” Minnesota Public Radio, 29 July 2002.

“The History of Louisville Township Part 3: Merriam Junction.” Scott County Historical Society, 13 Sept. 2021. www.scottcountyhistory.org/blog/the-history-of-louisville-township-part-3-merriam-junction.