The Amherst Poor
Farm
Basic Information
June 1, 1838 Poor Farm bought from Medad Vinton for $3636.
A warden managed the Poor Farm.
In 1866, the Poor Farm cost Amherst $1.88 per person per week to run.
Some elderly people died when they got to the Poor Farm.
Those who were able to work were contracted out as servants to pay back Amherst.
In 1914 the town voted to discontinue the Poor Farm.
In 1836 ,the town purchased Medad Vinton's farm on the south Amherst Common and hired a warden, a doctor, and a minister to watch over the town's poor. The "inmates," as they were called, included vagrants and the mentally unstable. The town also supported Amherst's poor families if they lived out of town: "Our outside poor are a great expense to the town and trouble to the overseers. In case of sickness with these persons who are living away from the Alms House, the expense is likely to be great." The Poor Farm was burned down by a resident in 1882, but was rebuilt. It closed in 1914.
Information from an essay by Kathi Coleman and from a book by Daniel Lombardo named Images of America, Amherst and Hadley Massachusetts
Abolition | The African American Experience in Amherst | Angeline | Events of the Times | Life in Amherst | The Hills Hat Factory | Henry Jackson | The Town Poor Farm | Zion Chapel