Built in 1870, what later became known as the Alms House, served as the administration building of Broome County's Poor Farm, an institution established in 1830 to house the indigent, handicapped, aged, widows, orphans, unwed mothers, "illegitimate" children, and pauper immigrants of the community. Occupying 130 acres of land, the Poor Farm would expand into a complex of seventeen buildings. By 1868 the patient population would exceed 1500. By the late 1960's, due to a combination of dwindling population and expansion requirements by neighboring Broome Community College, the Poor Farm was closed. The building was then used for college classrooms.
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