The Lancaster Commissioners of the Poor were established in 1791 to provide support for the orphaned, aged, and indigent. In 1867 Dr. J. Marton Sims donated $1,000 in gold to the commission, and the funds were used to improve and expand the county poor house, which was renamed the Sims Home. A new 16-room home was completed in 1914 and replaced the old complex of smaller buildings. The Lancaster County Home continued to serve the local population, including both white and black, until the 1940s. Today all that remains of the old county home is the cemetery, where the earliest known burials date to 1818 and the last dates to 1954, though additional unmarked burials likely remain because most buried here died as paupers.