Old Age Assistance

Before it, poor elderly people often ended up in the poorhouse. Alaska passed a law in 1915 and Montana in 1923, and by the end of 1928 six states and one territory had old age assistance, though few people received it. More states followed after 1929.

After the Social Security Act of 1935, old age assistance let many more elderly people live on their own, and towns began closing their poor farms. In town reports of the late 1930s and 1940s it appears as its own line.