This Historic Home for the Poor in Indiana was Demolished 1/2024

Knox County Poor Asylum, Vincennes Indiana

Date added: January 07, 2025

Central pavilion, northwest wing, and northwest elevation (2016)

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The Knox County Poor Asylum (now known as the county home) was operated by the county until 1985, when the Knox County Association for Retarded Citizens leased the building as its offices. The association rehabilitated the former asylum and remodeled portions of the interior, installing new restrooms and storage rooms in the assembly rooms, converting the southeast end of the first floor to a lounge. In the basement, several storage rooms were created in the central spaces originally used as the kitchen and dining room.

In 2015, the New Hope Center Corporation purchased the main asylum building and 2.83 acres from the Knox County Commissioners.

In 1820 the Indiana General Assembly appointed commissioners in Knox County to purchase a county poor farm, under the provisions of the 1816 constitution. Nothing seems to have come of the initiative, and the county continued to make allowance on a township basis for providing relief of the poor. In 1843, the county commissioners decided to have a private person keep the deserving poor in his care, under a system of soliciting a low bid for such a purpose. In 1851, the auditor and commissioners decided that the county itself should own its own farm and asylum building. The commissioners purchased a 40-acre lot in the city of Vincennes near the Wabash River for the farm. In 1852 they constructed a brick asylum building. They made a determined effort to encourage all paupers desiring relief to reside at the asylum, which the commissioners believed would be more economical than providing financial stipends.

In August 1881, an arsonist set fire to the 1852 asylum building, and it was destroyed. The county commissioners promptly purchased a new farm of 125 acres, located approximately three miles east of Vincennes. In early September, they hired architect Joseph K. Frick of Evansville to prepare plans and specifications for a new building. Contractor John H. Piel of Vincennes submitted the winning bid of $15,542 for constructing the asylum, and the building was completed in the spring of 1882. The asylum contained a two-story superintendent's resident at the front, at the rear of which were spacious assembly rooms for the men and women residents. In wings on either side were four rooms on the first and second floor for the residents. In the basement at center were the kitchen and dining room and several cell rooms intended for mentally ill residents needing confinement. Originally, there was no indoor plumbing; brick privies were constructed on the grounds. A furnace and furnace room was included in the basement, but chimneys were provided in each room for heating stoves.

In 1889, Alexander Johnson, secretary of the new Board of State Charities, paid a visit to the Knox County Asylum and reported that the building was "very pleasantly located." The farm was well-cultivated, and the superintendent oversaw a good garden providing vegetables for resident food. Johnson stated that separation of the sexes, an important principle for the board, was attempted, "with moderate success." There were 38 residents, including eight children, three mentally ill men, and two mentally ill women. None of the mentally ill residents were confined in the basement cells. The discipline over residents was "only moderately good." Johnson criticized the lack of sitting rooms for men and women in the design of the asylum, noting that men smoked all over the house in the absence of a sitting room. There was only one, un-used bathtub at the asylum; presumably, there was still no indoor plumbing. All of the heat was by stoves. Johnson was told that a hot-air furnace had been tried initially, but found to be inadequate. Finally, the secretary noted that tramps were received in the asylum and given "supper, bed, and breakfast."

In 1915, the asylum was finally provided with indoor plumbing and presumably bathrooms for the men and women. About the same time, a new furnace and central heating system was installed in the asylum building. Sometime in the early 20^th Century, the present wood-frame summer kitchen was constructed behind the asylum.

By 1922, when the Board of State Charities made another inspection, the representative reported that there were four inside water closets, two outdoor privies, and three in-door bathtubs for the residents. Superintendent J.C. Cardinal lived in the superintendent's residence with his wife and four children. The farm now included 160 acres of "fairly good land," and as livestock three head of cattle, five cows, four horses, and some chickens. There also was a vegetable garden, a small orchard, and a grape arbor. The county commissioners provided one male employee to assist the superintendent with the farm. There were 24 residents-17 men and seven women. The board representative noted that there was medical care available for the residents and provision for "custodial cases," presumably referring to the basement cells. Residents bathed once a week, their health was good, and they ate three meals a day, prepared by the matron and residents. The furniture was judged suitable. The residents slept on iron beds.

In 1924, the county leased the county asylum and farm to Purdue University for use as an experimental farm. The commissioners purchased a building in the city of Vincennes to house the asylum residents. After ten years, the commissioners bought out the lease from Purdue for $10,000, having found the city building unsuitable, and the asylum (called county home by then) was resumed at its former location.

In 1935, Superintendent Ray Smith told the county council that he believed the county farm would be self-sustaining through sale of its agricultural produce and animals. He also stated that almost none of the current residents was physically able to work on the farm. In 1948, a Vincennes newspaper reported that an inspection of the county home had a capacity for 52 residents: nine rooms in the men's wing had four beds, two rooms had two beds, and one room had three beds. In the women's wing, two bedrooms had four beds, and one room one bed.

By 1964, there were 24 residents, 16 men and eight women, ranging in age from 24 to 80. Its mission had broadened since World War II to include providing a home for mentally ill patients who were unable to work and support themselves. Other residents were simply unable to earn a living. The residents included two epileptics, a mentally disabled boy, and an arrested tuberculosis patient. There were 24 sleeping rooms, with two persons sharing each room. Mrs. Ida Messel, the county home superintendent, told a local newspaper that the women did their own ironing, and the men did most of their own hair-cutting. Each person took care of his/her sleeping quarters. Messel noted that in the early 1960s, the county had sold most of the farm, ceasing farm operations. A small portion of the remaining property was used to raise vegetables.

The Knox County Home continued operation until 1985, when the Knox County Association for Retarded Citizens leased the entire main building from the county.

Architect Joseph K. Frick (1823-1886) was born in Vilters, Switzerland, the son of an architect and builder. He left home at age thirteen and apprenticed with his brother Leonzo, who taught him the building trade and sent him to complete his architectural studies in Milan, Italy. In 1847, Joseph took up architectural practice on his own in Switzerland. In 1856, he and his brother Peter sailed for the United States and settled in Chicago. Eventually, Joseph made his way to southern Indiana and opened an architectural office in Evansville in 1859. At about the same time, he became assistant engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, under General George B. McClellan. During the Civil War, Frick served as an engineer under General Ulysses S. Grant during the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi. After the war, he resumed his architectural practice in Evansville and became known for his courthouse designs. Examples include the courthouses in Cairo and Harrisburg, Illinois and in Maysville, Hopkinsville, and Morganfield, Kentucky. He also designed Evans Hall, the Ragon Brothers Building, Aiken's Block, and several other prominent commercial buildings in Evansville. In 1873-76, Frick obtained the contract to build the Knox County Courthouse in Vincennes and retained F.L. Farman to oversee the construction. The Knox County Poor Asylum is the only known public building that Frick designed in Knox County. In the early 1880s, Frick served as an Assistant Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. He died in Evansville in 1886.

Frick's design made use of the tripartite design formula that had been used in the Eastern United States as early as 1800, but had arrived in Indiana only after the Civil War. The earliest extant tripartite design for an Indiana Poor Asylum is the Hendricks County Asylum (now Cypress Manor), built in 1868. The Noble County Asylum followed in 1871. Frick had previously designed courthouses in Illinois and Kentucky and was a seasoned designer of major public buildings. For the Knox County Poor Asylum he placed the superintendent's residence in a projecting central pavilion, as in other tripartite designs, but instead of placing the entrance at the center of the facade, he located two entries, at either side of the rear of the superintendent's pavilion and placed the vestibule for the building at the rear of the pavilion, between the residence and the asylum resident section. Also unorthodox was Frick's use of lofty assembly rooms on the first and second floors at the center of the resident sections, rather than dining rooms, which were more common in other tripartite designs.

The architect chose a mixture of the Italianate and Greek Revival styles for the exterior of the building. The stylistic choice shows that the architect and perhaps the clients were conservative in their tastes, as the Greek Revival had vanished from most public buildings in Indiana during the 1860s, and the Italianate had largely faded in popularity by 1880. The Italianate features include the vertical massing of the central pavilion and the two side wings, the narrow, vertical windows with arched hoods, the bracketed cornice, and the frame, square entry porches with wood details created by jigsaw. The Greek Revival influence is seen in the pediments over each of the pavilions, the brick pilasters dividing each elevation, and the gable roofs. The quality of the details and workmanship is fine.

Another source for the style of the Knox County Poor Asylum design could be the international Rundbogenstil (round-arched style) movement, which was influential in Germany during the early and mid-19^th Century. The architects who employed the style drew particularly on Romanesque, Byzantine, and 15^th Century Italian Renaissance buildings for inspiration. The popularity of Rundbogenstil buildings spread to Great Britain and the United States, brought by emigrant architects and published in architectural pattern books and periodicals. Round-arched compositions appeared in masonry public buildings, rail stations, churches, and synagogues. In Indiana, D.A. Bohlen, a German immigrant, used elements of the style in the Indianapolis City Market (1886). Frick, who was born in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, studied architecture, as already mentioned, in Milan, Italy, where he would have had occasion to study Italian Romanesque and Renaissance designs.

Refined touches in the Knox County Asylum are also seen in the attenuated cast-iron Corinthian columns in the first-floor assembly rooms and in the details of the superintendent's stairway. Frick employed unusually tall, four-foot transom windows above the doors to promote circulation of air and improve ventilation.

Although other public buildings designed by Frick survive outside the state, the Knox County Poor Asylum was one of his principal buildings in Indiana and a notable early interpretation of the tripartite design for asylums in the state.

Historic Knox County Poor Asylum demolished after years of neglect

Site Description

The Knox County Poor Asylum, 1882, is located on an irregularly-shaped parcel facing South Hart Street Road, about two miles southeast of Vincennes, Indiana. The 2.83-acre property consists principally of a T-shaped, brick masonry building illustrating the tripartite form increasingly favored for poor asylums in Indiana after the Civil War. There is also a small frame summer kitchen at the rear. The farm buildings formerly associated with the asylum have been removed, and the immediate property now includes the main building, the summer kitchen, a pole barn, and the immediate setting. The style of the asylum building is a mixture of the Italianate and late Greek Revival. Italianate features include the vertical proportions, box cornice with ornamental supporting brackets, and arched windows. Greek details include pediment gables and brick pilasters on each elevation. The building plan is unusual in having two main entrances at the rear of the central pavilion of the facade. The central pavilion contained the superintendent's residence, while the southeast wing at its rear contained the rooms probably of the men, while the northwest wing contained probably the rooms of the women residents. The plans of the first and second floors of the resident wings are unusual in having assembly rooms on each floor at center, rather than dining rooms. The basement contained originally the dining room and kitchen and center. The basement also originally contained cells for confining mentally ill residents.

The materials of construction include load-bearing brick exterior walls, some brick partition walls in the basement, galvanized iron for the brackets and cornice, and limestone for exterior sills. Inside, the fourteen-foot ceilings originally were tongued and grooved boards, the walls were plastered, and the floors were yellow pine. Trim was poplar in most of the interior. The assembly rooms are notable for their cast-iron Corinthian columns on the first floor and boxed stairways. There has been some remodeling since the 1980s, creating additional rooms and a southeast lounge on the first floor.

Detailed Description

Now an irregularly shaped, 2.83-acre parcel located approximately two miles southeast of Vincennes, IN, the Knox County Poor Asylum property is bounded along its southwest side by South Hart Street Road, along its northwest side by property containing a large warehouse, along its northeast side by a grove of trees, along part of its southeast side by Arc Avenue, then southeast along a line just southwest of a parking lot to a fence line, and finally southwest along the fence line to Hart Street Road. The 1881-82 main building is set back approximately 200 feet from South Hart St. Road, and its front elevation faces southwest. To the rear (northeast) of the main building is a detached summer kitchen constructed in the early 20^th Century. Slightly farther to the northeast is a pole barn. Arc Avenue enters the property from Hart Street Road and proceeds roughly northeast, passing the southeast elevation of the asylum building. It then continues north/northeast along part of the property boundary and exits the parcel. The asylum building is located on the ridge of a rise that gently slopes down to Hart Street Road. There is a grove of trees along the northeast edge of the property and northeast of the main building.

Completed in 1882, the main building of Knox County Poor Asylum combines features associated with the Italianate style and several associated with the Greek Revival. The two-story, red brick building has a symmetrical T-shaped footprint, and its facade is a tripartite composition in the growing tradition of such plans for county poor asylum buildings in Indiana and for almshouses and poor farms elsewhere in the Eastern United States. The center of the facade (southwest elevation) is a pavilion that projects forward three bays from the facades of the two wings. The building sits on a high brick water table that occupies the same plane as simple, two-story brick pilasters that divide the first and second levels into vertical bays on all elevations. The water table and pilasters on each elevation frame recessed brick panels in which the fenestration appears. The pilasters are of a simplified Doric form, without bases. Above their abacuses, the pilasters intersect with a frieze on the same plane. The lower edge of the frieze between pilasters is articulated by a corbel table with deep profiles and small projecting brick headers as accents below. On the three elevations of the central pavilion and on the southwest and northeast elevations of the wings, molded brackets made of galvanized iron rest on the pilaster abacuses and support a projecting box cornice and upper frieze, both also of molded, galvanized iron, above the brick frieze. The brackets have a slender shaft that transitions to an upper section with an S-curve profile. A continuous brick belt course divides the first and second stories into two horizontal zones on all elevations, interrupting the pilasters at mid-height. Within the brick panels outlined by the pilasters, water tables, and friezes, are slender arched windows, some paired and some individual. Above the window heads on all elevations are molded brick hoods. The hoods are each composed of three, concentric courses, each recessed below the previous course. The brick courses terminated in brick impost blocks. Each of the windows rests on limestone sills supported by stone consoles.

All windows in the exterior are typical of the Italianate style after the Civil War in Indiana: they are four-over-four sash assemblies with vertical proportions and round heads. Although the aluminum windows are replacements, they appear to have approximated the original sash configuration.

The central pavilion and the adjoining side wings have gable roofs. Originally, there was a square cupola located at the juncture of the roof ridges for the central pavilion and wings. The cupola had a projecting cornice and a finial. Below the shaft inside was an air shaft and skylight. The cupola was removed sometime after the 1930s. There is now no evidence of the air shaft or skylight in the ceiling of the second floor inside.

The facade composition is tripartite. The projecting central pavilion is flanked by symmetrical wings. At the top of the pavilion is a pediment, formed by the main cornice below and projecting, molded sheet metal upper cornices above. The upper cornices have plain friezes and a cyma recta molding above. In the tympanum, there is a "bull-eye blind" at center, bounded by three, concentric brick courses, each recessed. The center of the blind is covered currently with a plywood panel and a louvered vent. Flanking the bulls eye are recessed panels with modified triangular borders; the upper edge of each is composed of bricks in a stepped pattern. The sides of the panels closest to the blind have a concave curve echoing the lines of the eye.

On the southwest elevation of the pavilion, there are four pilasters. The center two are closely spaced together, and there is a single window bay in the panel between on the first and second stories. There are paired windows in the outer panels. At the basement level, below the upper edge of the water table, there are four simple, rectangular window openings, each directly below the windows of the upper stories. The basement openings have segmental arches and are currently covered; four with wood panels and one with a cast-iron panel.

The southwest elevations of each of the two flanking wings of the main facade have similar compositions to that of the southwest side of the central pavilion. There are three pilasters and three recessed panels on the first and second stories of each wing. The two outer panels are larger and each contains two window bays. The innermost panel contains one window on the first and second stories. The inner panels and window bays of both wings are actually recessed into the block of the central pavilion. At the basement level, there are segmental arched openings like those in the central pavilion. On the southeast wing, the openings contain multi-paned aluminum windows. On the northwest wing, the two most northwest openings were modified in the early 20^th Century to form concrete-edged coal chute openings. The next also has a concrete surround, with a replacement window, and the fourth is bricked up. The molded, galvanized iron cornice and brackets on the two wings are identical to those of the central pavilion.

The two side elevations of the central pavilion (i.e., the southeast and northwest sides) vary from the compositional formula of the southwest elevation of the pavilion and the two wings in several particulars. There are two, shallow recessed panels between two pilasters occupying the outer two-thirds of each side elevation. The final panel is deeply recessed into the block of the central pavilion, to create more depth for the frame porches at the intersection of the central pavilion and the two wings. Also, there are two window bays in the large panels of the side elevations, but they are spaced apart, and the outermost bays on both the southeast and northwest sides are blind openings, filled with brick. At the basement level, there are on the southeast elevation two openings sealed with boards similar to those on the southwest elevation. On the northwest side, there is a large opening, boarded, that may have been a doorway to the excavation below the central pavilion originally, and a smaller bay that is bricked in.

The two wood frame porches at the rear of the central pavilion provided the two primary entrances to the Knox County Poor Asylum. Each porch, constructed of "seasoned pine," projects just a narrow bay from the faces of each of the side elevations of the central pavilion. The southeast porch retains nearly all of its original decorative detail: square columns with chamfered edges and Doric abacuses, pedestals for the columns, brackets at the comers with slightly different profiles from those of the main cornices; wood lace cut from a jig-saw, and projecting cornices. Originally, the porches had white pine floors and stairs and brick foundations. The southeast porch retains its floor and brick foundation, but the wooden stairs was replaced in the early 20^th Century by a concrete stair with steel rail. The northwest porch has lost much of its ornamental detail: abacuses, pedestal moldings, and wood lace. The wooden porch floor and brick foundation remain. The wooden stairway is very poor condition. Above both porches are two standard windows, one set in the central pavilion elevation, and the other in the southwest elevations of the side wings. The entrances within the two porches each consist of a central door with rectangular light, side lights, and a transom window with a window consisting of ten panes. The doors, lights, and transom windows are all aluminum replacements.

The side elevations of the northwest and southeast wings of the building both contain three bays on the first and second stories and follow much of the formula of the building facade design. Four pilasters divide three recessed panels at the first and second floor levels, and single windows appear in each panel. The two outer panels are wider than the panel appearing at center. The central bay on the first and second stories contains wider proportions than elsewhere on the building; the replacement windows have six over six panes. The portion of the two central pilasters below the abacuses is covered with a red-colored board secured by wrought-iron stars that act as anchors for wooden joists in the interior. Two additional stars are found on the shafts of the central pilasters below and within the tympanum of the gable/pediment above. Instead of a full, completed closed pediment, such as the one on the facade of the central pavilion, the gables of the southeast and northwest elevation are open below. The box cornices of the southwest and northeast elevations of the building continue around the corners and form a partial lower border for a pediment. The upper cornices of the two gables are recessed from the horizontal box cornices below. The tympanums of the two side gable/pediments continue the treatment of the southwest pediment on the facade: a bull-eye blind at center with board and vent within the circle formed, and modified triangles. In the southeast gable, a few of the bricks are missing outlining the recessed panel of the southern triangle.

Both of the side elevations have more of the basement story exposed than on the facade. In both, a central entry is sunken partially below grade and is accessed via a stairway. In the southeast elevation, there are two, four over four, double-hung aluminum sash windows flanking the central entrance. In the northwest elevation, only the upper sash of the flanking windows is exposed. In both elevations, a wood frame porch was constructed, probably in the early 20^th century. The southeast porch has a shed roof and single posts for support. It covers the entire width of the elevation. The northwest porch, of slightly different design, is shorter in height and only covers the entry. The southeast entrance is slightly sunken and recessed. A short stairway leads down from the porch to the original double wood doors. An early 20th-century frame vestibule extends out on either side of the entry; it is not enclosed on the southeast side. The northwest entry is also sunken and is accessed by a brick stairway. The double wood doors are also original.

The rear (northeast) facade is the same length as the primary (southwest) facade, but there is no projecting pavilion at the center of the rear elevation. The long elevation is divided by eight pilasters into seven sections, each of which is a recessed brick panel similar to those on the other elevations. There are several differences in the articulation of this elevation. The central recessed panels on the first and second story levels contain banks of four, rectilinear windows with only wooden mullions separating the windows. There is a flat brick lintel consisting of a single course of headers over each window bank and limestone sills below. The outermost two bays at each end of the elevation have two standard arched windows at the first and second story levels. The next bay inward on each end, flanking the central section with the window banks, as three bays, but only the one next to the window banks is full-sized. The other two are shorter at the bottom.

Otherwise, the elevation above the basement level is the same as the facade with respect to pilasters, cornice, brackets, and water table. The basement is set in a slope that decreases in eight from the northwest corner to southeast corner of the elevation, exposing nearly a full story at the southeast end. There is a loading platform with a shed wooden roof below the two recessed sections at the southeast end of the elevation. The foundation and steps are poured concrete, suggesting a date in the early 20^th Century. There are only windows along the platform, suggesting loading was done through the windows. There is a tongue and groove board panel at the northwest end of the platform.

Beyond the loading platform to the northwest, the early 20th-century frame roof and posts continue two bays and then stop. It appears that when constructed, the roof and posts continued one more bay. This portion of the roof covered the two entrances to the central kitchen and dining room in the basement. The first entrance from the southeast, corresponding to the southeast central room inside, appears to have been original; it has a segmental brick arch above. Next are two four over four windows with segmental arches and stone sills. The roof then ceases, followed by a third window and a second entrance, which appears to have been inserted after construction.

Continuing along the basement to the northwest, there is a concrete block retaining wall, on the other side of which the slope of the grade is elevated perhaps three feet above that southeast of the wall. There are four, four over four windows with segmental arches next, and each window has a two-foot well with brick walls and concrete coping.

At the northwest end of the basement, there is a sunken brick addition for the former boiler room inside. There is a single four-light window on the northwest and southeast sides and a shed roof. The date of the addition would appear to be beginning of the 20^th Century. The addition occupies the area below the first recessed panel at the northwest end of the elevation.

Although the main building has undergone improvements and some remodeling, its interior retains the majority of its significant features, details, and floor plan. The plan reflects the tripartite formula for poor asylums and almshouses favored in many such buildings in the Eastern United States since the early 19^th Century. The central pavilion of the facade contained originally the superintendent's residence. At its rear, two symmetrical wings with mirror image plans provided separate residential accommodation for men and women. To the northwest apparently was the women's wing; to the southeast possibly was the men's wing.

The 1881 specifications by architect Joseph Frick directed that all wood throughout the building be of "good poplar." This presumably referred primarily to the trim for doorways and windows. The floors of the corridors and open areas of the resident wings and of the vestibule between the superintendents' residence and resident wings were to be constructed of "clear yellow pine."

All other rooms in the first and second stories were to be floored with poplar. Generally, the quality of wood, finishes for walls, baseboards and presumably fireplaces in the superintendent's residence was higher than in the resident wings.

The ceiling heights in all parts of the first and second floors are approximately 14 feet, and the original doorways including transoms are approximately 13 feet tall. On the first and second floors of both the superintendent's residence and along the corridors of the men's and women's wings, the doorways have substantial transoms with their original glazing and wood muntins. Nearly all of the original doorways retain their 1881 doors and most retain their initial hardware. The doors are white pine, with four panels lined by an ogee molding. All doors and trim from 1881 throughout the building have been painted. The transoms, which range from four feet in height in the superintendent's residence to three feet in the residential wings, each contain a four-pane light mounted on pivots. Transoms were a primary mode of air circulation from the outside.

All walls in the first and second floors of both major sections of the asylum have plastered walls. The rooms in the superintendent's residence and the original rooms in the first and second floors of the resident section are also plastered.

There are projecting, plastered chimneys on either side of the superintendent's residence and in all of the resident rooms of the two wings. Only the southeast room of the first floor in the superintendent's residence has a mantel, and it may have been installed later. Originally, the specifications stated that the chimneys "and fireplaces were to be built up from the ground." Although a central furnace was installed originally, it proved ineffective, and stoves were used for heating in the resident rooms and possibly in the superintendent's residence until a new furnace was installed in the early 20^th Century.

Most 19th-century poor asylums in Indiana were entered through a central entry in the facade of the superintendent's residence. Architect Joseph Frick placed two primary entrances at the rear of the sides in the superintendent's residence. Visitors mounted the two side porches at the rear of the central pavilion and entered doorways with side lights and transoms on the northwest and southeast sides of a spacious rectangular vestibule running along the rear of the superintendent's residence. The original doors, side lights and transoms of the two entrances were removed in the 1980s and replaced with aluminum doors, sidelights, and transoms that appear to simulate the pattern of the originals.

At the center of the southwest wall of the vestibule, a large archway leads to the stair hall of the superintendent's residence. Northwest of the archway, a doorway leads from the vestibule into the former parlor or dining room of the superintendent's residence. Along the northeast wall of the vestibule, there are two doorways with four-foot transoms leading into the men's and women's assembly rooms. The original ceiling of the vestibule appears to have been covered with painted particle boards secured by a framework of two-inch boards. In the vestibule and superintendent's residence are large poplar baseboards, measuring nine inches.

The archway on the southwest wall of the vestibule leads into a rectangular stair hall. At the rear of the hall, filling it completely, is a two-flight, rectilinear stairway with a landing. The 1881 specifications reveal that the treads and risers (now carpeted) are ash. The stairway has "fancy turned ash balusters," now painted white, and a walnut handrail with carved concave and convex moldings. The octagonal newel post is also walnut, with turned shaft and cap. Centered in the southwest wall adjacent to the two-story stairwell are two single, arched windows, one above the other.

On either side of the stair hall on the first floor are two rectangular rooms. The doorways to each are across the hall from each other, immediately before the stairway. One room was undoubtedly originally the parlor, and the other the dining room of the superintendent and his family.

The southeast room has a projecting chimney and fireplace mantel centered in the southeast wall. The mantel appears to be later than 1881, perhaps from the first decade of the 20^th century. The hardwood mantel consists of a lower section framing the firebox and an over mantel. The primary shelf is supported by wooden Tuscan columns with bases on the hearth. Smaller columns support a second shelf above a central mirror. The firebox is cast iron, with a gilded outer plate. The facing around the firebox and the hearth in front of the fireplace are glazed tile with a mottled green and white pattern. There are twin windows at the center of the southwest wall. The trim here and for all windows in the first and second stories consists of narrow, unadorned boards with sills and fillets at the bottom. There is a single window to the northeast of the mantel in the southeast wall. There are portions of the southeast wall that are missing plaster, due to water leaks, and a section of the ceiling where water has dissolved the plaster and exposed the wood lath.

The northwest room has a projecting, plastered chimney, but no mantel at the center of the northwest wall. Immediately to the southwest, a window bricked in on the exterior appears as a recessed rectangle with plastered surface. There is a small closet in the southeast wall. Near the northeast corner are the doorways to the stair hall and vestibule. There are twin windows at the center of the southwest wall, and a single window northeast of the chimney.

There are two doors in the northeast wall of the vestibule. The one to the southeast leads into the southeast half of the resident section of the former asylum, which appears to have been the men's wing. The one to the northwest leads into what appears to have been the women's wing.

Originally, the plans for the men's and women's sections were mirror images of each other. In each section, a large rectangular room used originally for assemblies or gatherings of the men or women is located on either side of a central dividing wall. Next on either side is a corridor that provided access to four rooms for residents.

The women's wing on the first floor retains more integrity of floor plan and materials than the men's section. The assembly room on the women's side originally was rectangular. In the 1980s, when the building was rehabilitated/remodeled for use by the Knox County Association for Retarded Citizens, the north corner of the room was subdivided using floor-to-ceiling drywall partitions into a restroom/shower and storage room. Otherwise, the assembly room retains its integrity. There are 14-foot high ceilings, made of tongued and grooved poplar boards; exposed yellow pine flooring; a stairway leading to the second floor along the southeast wall, and a cast iron column located approximately halfway between the southwest and northeast walls and near to the stairway.

The column supports a wooden girder running southeast-northwest through the room; the girder ends with a double-concave/convex molding just short of the stairway. The column is six inches in diameter. The capital is adapted from the Corinthian order. The lower tier of the capital is lined with what may be flower buds, and the upper is lined with plant leaves that may represent those of corn or tobacco. The shaft is fluted, and there is a base with a torus. The stairway is centered along the southeast wall. The stairway to the second floor leads from the southwest corner of the room. It is boxed with yellow pine panels, painted white. The newel post and rail are ash. The post is square at base, has a chamfered shaft, and two projecting moldings near the cap, which is square and has a rounded top with concave profile. The rail curves slightly inward from the newel post and then continues parallel to the wall. The stairway rises in two fights with a short landing. The treads and risers are of ash, but covered with carpet.

On the opposite side of the stairway, a doorway leads down two flights to the basement. In the southwest wall of the room, there is a single window near the west corner. The surround is rectangular with a slightly projecting sill and no other detailing. On the opposite, northeast wall, there is a pair of rectangular windows, with a mullion separating them, with the same simple treatment. A short distance to the northwest is an arched window, with an arched surround. A fourth, shorter window is located within the 1980s restroom created in the north corner of the room. A door in the southeast wall near the northeast wall leads to the men's wing. In the northwest wall of the room, there is a projecting chimney, plastered over, that served a heating stove originally. There is plaster damage around the windows of the northeast wall and in the southeast wall near the doorway. Light fixtures in the room are fluorescent, suspended from the ceiling, and date probably to the 1960s.

A plastered archway leads at the center of the assembly room into the corridor with the four residential rooms. The corridor runs to the end of the wing and a window in the northwest wall. It has a tongued and grooved board ceiling. Each of the four rooms has two bays and is large enough to have housed two or more residents originally. Each room has a chimney projecting from one side, used initially to exhaust fumes from heating stoves. The corridor has a yellow pine exposed floor, while the rooms have exposed poplar floors. The walls and ceilings in the rooms are plastered. There are small wooden crown moldings and quarter-round baseboards. The doorways have four-foot high transoms with four-light windows on central pivots. All of the original four-panel wood doors are in place. There are rectangular metal door plates and delft porcelain knobs. The window surrounds are the standard simple board trim with sills. There is plaster damage in the ceilings and walls of several of the rooms.

Men's Wing, First Floor. The men's first-floor assembly room was originally a mirror image of that on the women's side, but was modified in the 1980s in the east corner. Drywall partitions were installed to create a restroom with a shower in the corner against the northeast wall and two storage rooms southwest of the restrooms, with doors in the southwest, new partition wall. Vertical circulation is the same as on the women's side via a boxed stairway to the second floor and flight below the stairway down to the basement. There is significant plaster damage on the wall around the doorway leading to the women's side and in the northeast wall. There also has been damage in the wood floor from a leak at the southwest end of the room, near the doorway leading into the superintendent's vestibule.

Beyond the plaster archway in the men's wings, the corridor and the first two of the original four resident rooms remain. The first room to the left (northeast) was remodeled in the 1980s for use as an office by the Knox County Association of Retarded Persons. The trim in the room was replaced with new wood, but the original wood floor, transom window and door were retained. Across the hall, the southeast wall of the second resident room was modified by the installation of a floor-to-ceiling drywall bulkhead to accommodate a refreshment preparation area on the opposite wall. Otherwise, the resident's room is original. There is plaster damage in the ceiling and southwest wall.

In the early 1980s, the Knox County Association for Retarded Persons modified the rest of the men's wing corridor and the final two resident rooms to create a lounge for employees. The corridor walls were removed to create a single room across the southeast end of the floor, and a drywall partition wall was installed across the corridor with a rectangular entry. The trim around the windows and baseboards were replaced with new wood, and wallpaper and carpeting installed. Large wooden decorative beams were constructed across the ceiling, and a wainscot wooden molding was installed along the walls. In the northwest wall, close to the southeast wall, a recessed kitchenette was created.

On the second floor of the superintendent's residence, there is the central stair hall, flanked by rooms of the same dimensions as on the first floor. The entries to both rooms, which originally were bedrooms for the superintendent's family, are across from each other, at the top of the stairway. The southeast bedroom has a projecting, plastered chimney with no fireplace at the center of the southeast wall. At the southwest side of the chimney, an early 20th-century enclosure projects about one and a half feet from the face of the chimney. The enclosure contains two levels of closets and conceals the original wall with a recessed, sealed window. There are twin windows in the southwest wall and a single window in the southeast wall, matching those in the room below. There is substantial water damage in the ceiling and floor of this room. The northwest room on the second floor is a mirror image, with the same later closet enclosure, southwest of the plastered chimney face.

There is an arched opening similar to that between the first-floor vestibule and stair hall to the northeast of the second-floor stair hall. The hall continues a short distance northeast to a short vestibule for entry to the second floors of the men's and women's wings. On either side of this portion of the hall, located directly above the first-floor vestibule, are two smaller, rectangular bedrooms, originally assigned to the superintendent's family.

A doorway with full transom in the northeast wall of the extended corridor of the superintendent's residence leads into a shallow vestibule, perpendicular to the corridor. This doorway marked the boundary between the residence and the wings containing the male and female residents of the asylum. In the northeast wall of the vestibule are two doorways, the one on the southeast leading to the presumed men's wing, and the one of the northwest leading to the women's.

The assembly room of the women's wing, second floor, has had only one modification: a restroom with shower was installed during the 1980s in the north corner. The floor-to-ceiling walls of the restroom are drywall. The rectangular stairway opening is lined on its southwest and northwest sides by the same yellow pine boxing as on the first-floor flights below. The box stair terminates on its northeast side with a newel post without chamfering. The ceiling is covered by the same particle board panels and framework of wooden strips that appears on the ceiling of the first-floor vestibule. This appears to be a mid-20th-century change. Otherwise, the features of the room are the same as the assembly room directly underneath it. There is plaster damage along the northeast wall, below the windows. The room has been carpeted.

The plastered arch in the northwest wall leads to four resident rooms that are nearly identical to those below. Three of the rooms have some plaster damage along the exterior walls. The wooden floors are exposed in the corridor and rooms. The doors appear original, although some of the knobs have been replaced.

The Men's Wing assembly room was modified in its east corner by installation of a restroom in the early 1980s along the northeast wall and a storage closet southwest of the restroom. Otherwise, the room is nearly identical to the assembly room directly below it. There is significant plaster damage along the northeast wall and part of the northwest wall.

The corridor and four resident rooms of the men's wing, second floor, are largely the same as the women's wing opposite. There is carpeting in the corridor and in three of the rooms. The room in the west corner of the wing has its poplar flooring exposed and there is plaster damage. The room in the north corner has a hole in the ceiling, due to water leaks. The ceilings in the corridor and rooms are covered with painted particle boards.

A full basement runs below the men's and women's wings. There is an excavation under the northeast portion of the superintendent's residence. As originally designed, there was a kitchen and dining room in the basement, located below the assembly rooms on the first floor. A brick partition wall divides the center of the basement into two rooms that were originally rectangular. A doorway in the wall connects the two halves of the basement.

The two stairways to the first floor are both located on the northwest side of the brick wall in an unusual configuration. There is a board partition between the stairways, while the brick, load-bearing wall is located on the outside of the southeast stairway. The stairways are boxed in a similar manner to the stairways above and end in newel posts similar to those on the second floor. On both sides of the brick partition wall, a large square brick pier supports a large wooden girder running northwest-southeast, directly below the cast iron column in both first-floor assembly rooms. On the northeast side of each central basement room, there is an exit to the outside. In the southeast room, the doorway is against the southeast wall; in the northwest room, the doorway is at the center of the northeast wall. The first doorway appears to be original; there is a transom window overhead, and the wooden door may date to 1881. The second doorway appears to have been cut into the wall later, possibly the 20th-century; the door is a solid metal type. There are two full windows northwest of the exit in the southeast room, and a single window southeast of the exit in the northwest room. The 1881 specifications prescribed "clear yellow pine flooring" for both the dining room and kitchen, but today, there is concrete floor covered with the remains of linoleum or vinyl square flooring. The walls of the two rooms are painted brick, and the ceilings appear to be covered with particle board. In the 1980s, a dry-walled storage room was created in the south corner of the southeast room, while in the northwest room, two rooms were created by drywall partitions in the north and west corners.

It appears that in 1881, the intention was to use some of the rooms on either side of the kitchen and dining room to the northwest and southeast as resident rooms. A brick archway at the center of the southeast wall of the southeast central room leads to a wing with a similar plan to that on the second floor above it. The archway has been partially filled with brick, and at center is a rectangular doorway with wooden surround and door. Proceeding down a central corridor with brick walls and painted particle board ceiling, there are four rooms of roughly the same dimensions as above. Apparently, originally there were two long rooms on either side of the corridor; there are particle board partitions now dividing them into two. There is a door connecting the two rooms on the northeast side. The windows in the southeast wing were originally shorter to fit above grade. In the 1980s, they were replaced with aluminum sashes of a smaller size. The windows all have flat stone lintels and sills. The doorways in the southeast wing have segmental brick arches and squared wooden frames. They also have their original wooden doors. Three of the walls in each room are painted brick. The specifications stated that entire basement, exclusive of the kitchen and dining room, were to be paved with "good paving brick". The floors in the southeast wing are now carpeted, and the corridor now has linoleum or vinyl squares, in poor condition. The ceilings in the side rooms are of board construction. The first room on the southwest side has been modified for the current electrical system of the building. There is a small store room located northwest of this room.

The northwest wing is substantially different than the southeast wing in its present layout. There is a central brick archway and beyond it a central corridor, but the first room on the southwest side has been remodeled to serve as a restroom, probably in the 1980s, and the first room on the southeast side has a steel jail cell door inside an outside wooden door. This room was intended for use to confine mentally ill residents who were judged to need restraint. The cell room has two windows, a corrugated metal ceiling, and all brick walls.

The whole northwest end of the basement was apparently used for coal storage and a boiler room beginning in the early 20^th Century. The 1881 specifications stated that "the building [was] to be heated by a furnace with galvanized reservoir with all necessary tin pipes." The specifications further directed that "all necessary floor registers of cast iron with revolving slats" be furnished. There is no evidence in the building today of original cast iron registers. The initial furnace, which may have been in the final room on the southwest, at the northwest end of the wing, proved inadequate, and the building was heated by stoves until the early 20^th Century. Initially, the corridor appears to have continued all the way to the northwest wall; the brick wall on the northeast side has been removed.

In the early 20^th Century, there appears to have been a substantial remodeling of the northwest end to accommodate a new furnace. The room in the west corner was converted to a coal room, and the two windows were modified with concrete surrounds to be coal chutes. The brick wall on the northeast side of the corridor was removed, and a rectangular brick addition was made to the northeast side of the north room. The intent was, apparently, to create a furnace room. A steel fire-door was installed to close off the room from the corridor to the southeast. The former furnace room retains a small modern furnace and hot water heater, but is otherwise empty. The floor is concrete. At the end of the former corridor are double wooden doors leading to the northwest exit from the building.

Summer Kitchen

This one-story wood frame building is located a short distance northeast of the main building and appears to date to the beginning of the 20^th Century. Its use as a summer kitchen to supplement cooking in the main building is suggested by the large brick oven and possibly stove in its east corner. The building has a gable roof, clapboard siding, and a brick foundation.

There are doors on both the southwest and southeast elevations, and two full-size windows with double-hung sashes. One is on the southwest elevation, and the other on the northwest. In the rear elevation is a smaller, square window with single sash. The chimney for the stove is exposed on the northeast elevation. Inside is a single room with the oven-stove in one corner. The walls are covered with horizontal boards, the ceiling is covered by particle board panels, and the floor is concrete.

There is a large metal pole barn with gable roof standing a short distance to the northwest of the summer kitchen. It appears to have been constructed since the 1980s.