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==History== | ==History== | ||
β | In 1852, the Commonwealth discontinued its program of outdoor relief for unsettled paupers. Prior to that, municipal governments were tasked exclusively with the care of dependents having legal settlement | + | In 1852, the Commonwealth discontinued its program of outdoor relief for unsettled paupers. Prior to that, municipal governments were tasked exclusively with the care of dependents having legal settlement under common law. The care of unsettled paupers, increasingly immigrants from western Europe, was undertaken in local almshouses at state expense. After 1852, the state assumed full responsibility for the indoor care of unsettled paupers, which required the construction of four large new state almshouses. These were located on Rainsford Island, Tewksbury, Monson and Bridgewater. Within just over a decade, the function of each would become increasingly specialized. The sick and elderly were sent to Tewksbury, infectious immigrants to Rainsford, children to Monson. Bridgewater became a place increasingly of undesirables and the so called "undeserving poor," people who were thought to be poor out of idleness, inebriation and other vices. Over the years Bridgewater would change significantly in both form and function, but its image as a place for undesirables would persist. |
The first major shift came in 1866 when a the Workhouse for Vicious Paupers was established alongside the Alsmhouse (St 1866, c 198). The Almhouse would later be abolished in 1872 (St 1872, c 45). Of the workhouse system, a Senate Document published in 1870 notes that "a large majority of those confined in it come from the vicious classes of society. They are made up of the criminal poor-the lewd, the intemperate, and those suffering from a disease which is in itself a proof of their abandoned character." (Senate Report No. 110, 1870) In that year there were 323 commitments to the Workhouse. | The first major shift came in 1866 when a the Workhouse for Vicious Paupers was established alongside the Alsmhouse (St 1866, c 198). The Almhouse would later be abolished in 1872 (St 1872, c 45). Of the workhouse system, a Senate Document published in 1870 notes that "a large majority of those confined in it come from the vicious classes of society. They are made up of the criminal poor-the lewd, the intemperate, and those suffering from a disease which is in itself a proof of their abandoned character." (Senate Report No. 110, 1870) In that year there were 323 commitments to the Workhouse. |