Westford Town Farm
The town of Westford purchased this land in 1824 and built the large two-story brick building that remains at this site in 1838. Before the days of welfare, towns took care of their impoverished residents in institutions like this one. It housed Westford’s poorer residents in exchange for raising crops. The town’s first jail was located in the basement. Famous mental health reform advocate Dorothea Dix visited in 1843. After 1931, it was referred to as the Westford Infirmary. It closed in 1959 when the last patient was transported to the Tewksbury State Hospital.
Produced by Carter Purple of Boy Scouts of America, Troop 159 as an Eagle Scout project (2021) for the Westford Historical Society