First Johnson County Asylum | |
Location | West of Iowa City |
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Coordinates | 41°39′22.6″N 91°36′19.4″W / 41.656278°N 91.605389°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1861 [2] |
Part of | Johnson County Poor Farm and Asylum Historic District ( ID14000668) |
NRHP reference No. | 78001226 [1] |
Added to NRHP | August 31, 1978 |
The First Johnson County Asylum is a historic building located on the far west side of Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The first facility Johnson County built to care for paupers and the mentally ill was a four-room cabin in 1855. Two wings were added to the original building six years later. All that remains of this structure is this wing that housed the mentally ill. [3] The single-story wood-frame structure with a gable roof was used by the county for this purpose until 1886 when a new facility was completed. It was initially thought that it was built in 1859, but later research revealed that it was built in 1861 and that it was moved a short distance to this location in 1888. [2] This building served for many years as a hog building on the Johnson County Poor Farm. [4] It is now part of an education-based farm program called Grow:Johnson County. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. [1] In 2014 it was included as a contributing property in the Johnson County Poor Farm and Asylum Historic District. [2]