Massachusetts. State Farm (Bridgewater, Mass.)

1852, c 275 provided for the establishment of three institutions (by 1854 called state almshouses) to receive, from cities and towns, paupers without settlement in the Commonwealth who were supported at public expense. St 1853, c 352 designated one of these as the State Almshouse at Bridgewater, which opened May 1, 1854. It soon received what were later termed the more willingly and needlessly dependent (Trustees of the State Farm at Bridgewater. Annual report, 1903 (PD 24: Oct l903)). Per St 1863, c 240 the almshouse came under the jurisdiction of the Board of State Charities.

St 1866, c 198 established the State Workhouse at the State Almshouse at Bridgewater, with a hospital, also under the Board of State Charities. The workhouse originally received inmates of state almshouses convicted of being rogues, vagabonds, and the like (i.e., misdemeanors) as per GS 1860, c 165, s 28. Per St 1869, c 258, any residents of municipal almshouses convicted of misdemeanors were committed to the State Workhouse, as were incorrigible inmates of state juvenile reform institutions. St 1872, c 45 abolished the Bridgewater almshouse (sending paupers to the remaining State Almshouse at Tewksbury), although state paupers could and did continue to be sent to the Bridgewater almshouse department. St 1880, c 257 directed vagrants to be sentenced to the workhouse. St 1879, c 291 replaced the Board of State Charities with the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity, and gave the workhouse its own board of trustees, replacing a board of inspectors. St 1884, c 297 replaced this with a Board of Trustees of the State Almshouse [i.e., at Tewksbury] and State Workhouse. After a fire, St 1883, c 279 authorized temporary removal of the workhouse to quarters at the State Reform School at Westborough; return to Bridgewater occurring in Dec. 1884, authorized by Resolves 1884, c 76. The rebuilding in brick in 1884 also provided a more complete separation of the almshouse department from the prison (workhouse) wing.

In order to relieve crowded conditions at the state lunatic hospitals, St 1886, c 219 authorized the erection of a building at the State Workhouse at Bridgewater to house 125 chronic insane men of the pauper and harmless class, to be transferred from state almshouses and lunatic hospitals. The State Board of Lunacy and Charity, now in charge of the State Workhouse per St 1886, 101, s 5, voted on September 4, 1886 to transfer fifty such men, and the asylum building was opened in 1887. Resolves 1888, c 89 added a building for the active violent insane, as well as an addition to the hospital for the medical treatment of the sick insane. Also admitted were aged or physically or mentally infirm inmates of the State Prison (St 1890, c 180; St 1915, c 184). St 1894, c 251 limited insane admissions for a time to inmates of correctional institutions. Per St 1895, c 390, the departments for the care and maintenance of insane men became the State Asylum for Insane Criminals. The asylum was ultimately renamed Bridgewater State Hospital per St 1909, c 504, s 98. For a separate history of this institution and clincial records associated with it see: Bridgewater State Hospital (Mass.)

St 1887, c 264 renamed the State Workhouse (including its alms department) as the State Farm, in deference to the insane male paupers recently admitted. With the division of the State Board of Lunacy and Charity per St 1898, c 433, the State Farm continued under the State Board of Charity, which was responsible for the state poor, while the newly-created State Board of Insanity was given general supervision of all state asylums and hospitals for the insane. Meantime, the State Farm continued under the joint board of trustees that also oversaw successors to the State Almshouse (Tewksbury), namely, the State Hospital (1900) and the State Infirmary (1909). St 1919, c 199 transferred management of the State Farm (and with it the Bridgewater State Hospital) from the State Board of Charity to the Massachusetts Bureau of Prisons (replaced per St 1919, c 350, s 86 by the Dept. of Correction). Succeeding the State Board of Insanity, the Massachusetts Commission on Mental Diseases (1916) and the Dept. of Mental Diseases (1919) had supervision of commitment and discharge of insane inmates not under sentence, with St 1923, c 467 specifying that the Bridgewater State Hospital would remain under the jurisdiction of the Dept. of Correction and the superintendent of the State Farm. The placement of state paupers at the almshouse section of the State Farm was continued by state charitable agencies and their successors, including the Dept. of Public Welfare, per St 1921, c 486, s 28.

All Bridgewater State Farm facilities and divisions (including prison, almshouse, insane, and medical hospital functions) were administered by a common superintendent. The running of the State Farm, including industries and extensive agricultural operations, relied on work performed by all capable inmates.

Women were part of the original Bridgewater almshouse and workhouse, but female prisoners were removed upon the opening of a women's prison at Sherborn in 1877. Per St 1906 c 500, a separate women's section was established in the prison department at Bridgewater, opening in 1909. Sentences included those served for drunkeness and lewdness. This unit closed in 1930, with female inmates again moved to the women's prison (now in Framingham)

Under provisions of St 1909, c 504; St 1910, c 345; and St 1911, c 604, insane prisoners elsewhere continued to be removed to Bridgewater State Hospital. St 1911, c 595 authorized adult males termed defective delinquents (intellectually impaired inmates requiring confinement and segregated from the rest of the inmate population) to be sent to the State Farm at Bridgewater. St 1922, c 535, finally implementing the 1911 law, established a Defective Delinquent Dept. and a Drug Addict Dept., a unit for alcoholics and drug addicts that inherited functions of Norfolk State Hospital. Located within the prison hospital, it accepted criminal placements as well as temporary civil commitments of no more than fifteen days. These two departments also accepted women, with the section for so-called Female Defective Delinquents being added in 1926 (through 1954). St 1950, c 769 authorized establishment of a clinic for alcoholics at the State Farm. Incorrigible inmates of state juvenile reform institutions (there since 1869) ceased being admitted per St 1948, c 310, s 22.

St 1955, c 770 reorganized the state correctional system, renaming the State Farm as Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Bridgewater, which see, including Bridgewater State Hospital.

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to agencies described above can be found by searching the following access points for the time period stated: 1854-1872--Massachusetts. State Almshouse (Bridgewater, Mass.); 1866-1887--Massachusetts. State Workhouse (Bridgewater, Mass.); 1887-1955--Massachusetts. State Farm (Bridgewater, Mass.)

From the description of Agency history record. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 145430011