A nearly forgotten burial ground

Photos by Derrick KnutsonLoren Magnison checks out the sign he and Ron Hult created to mark the site of the North Branch Poor Farm cemetery.
There’s a cemetery in North Branch that isn’t visited often. It’s tucked away about 200 feet northwest of the Harder Avenue and Heritage Lane intersection. It’s a simple resting place for people who ended their lives as paupers.
Lifelong North Branch resident Loren Magnison is the volunteer caretaker of the grounds; he mows the grass when it gets long, makes sure the 20 headstones stay standing, and he, with the help of Ron Hult, created a sign for the entrance to the area that reads “Poor Farm Cemetery.”broadstreet.zone(48036);
“I’ve been taking care of it since Ecumen moved out of here, which was 2010, I think,” Magnison said.
According to information from findagrave.com: “This is the second Chisago County Poor Farm, established about 1885, two miles east of North Branch.

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