{"nrhp_refnum":"08000167","name":"Westford Town Farm","other_names":["Poor Farm","Westford Home","Westford Infirmary"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"35 Town Farm Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Westford","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.586568800000066,"lon":-71.47850831499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-03-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Agriculture","Community Planning and Development","Architecture","Health/Medicine","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick, 2½-story former town poor farm at 35 Town Farm Road, Westford, Massachusetts, built in 1837 and enlarged around 1840 and 1900 with a wood-frame addition.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a prime local example of the town's social safety net in the 19th and 20th centuries, and it remained in use as a town farm until 1959, later than most others in the state. It is eligible under Criteria A and C for its role in social history, health and welfare, and its Greek Revival and Victorian Eclectic architecture. Its cellar also holds the former town lock-up.","narrative":"Westford Town Farm, at 35 Town Farm Road, is a brick poor farm building raised in 1837 on the site of an older farmhouse that the town had bought with the John Read farm in 1824. The five-by-six-bay main block shows Greek Revival features, including granite lintels and sills, while a wood-frame Victorian Eclectic addition of about 1900 gives the building an L-shaped plan. The cellar of that addition holds a former town lock-up with two brick cells. The property served as the town's home for paupers, the mentally ill and others unable to support themselves until 1959, longer than most Massachusetts town farms. Social reformer Dorothea Dix visited in the early 1840s and described the restraint of a resident. The nomination presents the building as a local example of nineteenth and twentieth century public assistance, and as a representative of the architecture of such institutions. It is currently vacant.","period_of_significance":"1837-1958","architect_builder":"Daniel W. Hartwell, builder; H.M. Francis, architect of 1900 block","architectural_style":"Greek Revival; Victorian Eclectic","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Current function is listed as vacant; the form notes vinyl siding on the secondary addition and modern interior finishes.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:04.285788-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/7955/63795554/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/08000167.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000167/5f7430be38-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000167/5f7430be38-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Westford_Town_Farm,_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Westford_Town_Farm,_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795554","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westford_Town_Farm","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7988793"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/westford-town-farm-08000167/"}