From 1926 until 1943 this campus operated as the Clark County Poor Farm. A poor farm had existed on the site since 1873. It is an historic district that encompasses 99 acres, 13 buildings, three sites and two structures, including the Administrative Building(s), agricultural buildings, a cemetery and Hazel Dell public park. The core buildings were built in the Renaissance style, of concrete and stucco. Poor farms declined with the rise of the New Deal, and the State acquired the site in 1949 for the Washington State College (now Washington State University), which conducted agricultural research on commercial vegetables and fruits, insects and disease control among other things until 1966. Hazel Dell park was created out of the holdings in 1950. The cemetery contains about 200 graves dating back to 1913.