From 1877-1963, the Grayson County Poor Farm sheltered many county residents, including elderly people without caregivers, orphans, widows still raising children, and mentally ill individuals. Residents generally performed daily tasks that helped keep the farm operating, and the farm provided them with food while also bringing the county some income. In the 1870s, the county bought 220 acres of farmland previously owned by the Vaden family, and by 1887 the Poor Farm had a superintendent's living quarters, a hospital, a guard room, rooms for patients, and 110 acres in cultivation. In 1917, civic society members led by Edna Gladney, distressed by the living conditions, cleaned the facility, whitewashed the walls, brought in new mattresses, and moved the children elsewhere. The farm existed before federally mandated welfare assistance and reflected the difficulty county government faced in caring for vulnerable community members. Herman and Lois Goldston operated the farm from the early 1940s to 1962; he was its longest-serving superintendent, and they raised their eight children on the property. In August 1946, a fire displaced all residents, who then lived with the Goldston family in the superintendent's house and in cabins on the property. The next year, a new building was erected on the same foundation, reusing the basement. In 1965, a nursing home rental company bought the land and turned it into Shady Oaks Nursing Home, where many former residents moved, and in the 1970s Shady Oaks relocated to a more modern facility. All that remains are the superintendent's house, the cemetery, and the 1949 structure converted into a home.