The Pest House, Baltimore County Almshouse

ID: 1464 ~ Source: Historical Society of Baltimore County ~ Date: 2003
This file appears in: Baltimore County Almshouse
The Pest House, Baltimore County Almshouse

Though the official purpose of the Pest House was to quarantine residents with contagious diseases, records indicate administrators most often used the building to segregate African American men from other residents.

This file appears in: Baltimore County Almshouse

By Kathleen Barry
The Baltimore County Almshouse officially opened in 1874 as a public home for the county's indigent, elderly, and infirm residents. The Almshouse and its predecessors were the ancestors of today’s nursing homes, mental health hospitals, homeless…