Hillsborough County Farm

Poor’s Farm, Goffstown

In 1849, the townspeople of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire purchased farmland in Goffstown from a successful farmer named Noyes Poor. Poor’s Farm literally became the county’s poor farm, complete with an almshouse and a house of correction. Existing buildings on the farm were refit to house the county’s poor. Additional buildings were eventually erected to house the growing population at the poor farm, including a larger almshouse and insane asylum.

In 1853, a smallpox outbreak required there to be a “pesthouse” built to separate and care for the smallpox patients. The pesthouse was later used for other contagious diseases.

A fire broke out one morning in November 1866, destroying the almshouse and leaving 125 “inmates” without a place to live. Some of the inmates were moved to the jail and asylum, while others moved to various buildings in nearby Manchester.

The Poor Farm at Wilton

It was decided that rather than rebuild the farm at Goffstown, it would be better to purchase another farm and its buildings to use as the county’s poor farm. In 1867, residents were moved to the Whiting Farm at nearby Wilton.

At the start, the county refit existing buildings for the purposes of housing the poor and those deemed “insane” before building nearly a dozen additional buildings including a reform school and a pesthouse. There was no hospital on the grounds. An 1885 report noted how a hospital was absolutely necessary as the current hospital room, which held 20 patients who were receiving treatment from infectious diseases such as Scarlet fever and measles, was being concurrently used as the ladies’ dining room.

The Hillsborough County Farm remained at this property for the next 26 years, and at its height, the farm was home to over 500 residents.

Due to some mishandling of sales accounts and the farm estate, the county again decided to move the poor farm back to Goffstown, this time to a farm called “Grasmere.” Construction on brand new brick buildings and wooden outbuildings began in 1894, and the Wilton property was abandoned a year later.

Hillsborough County Farm at Grasmere

The Hillsborough County Farm at Grasmere opened its doors in 1895. The new property included a superintendent’s home and administration building, almshouse, house of correction, and insane asylum.

The administration building, situated at the front, is three-stories tall with a two-story ell. A parlor, sitting room, dining room, offices, kitchen and pantry were located on the ground floor. Fifteen sleeping rooms and other apartments were on the second and third floors. The cellar contained fruit and vegetable storage, a milk room, butter making department, boiler room, and a washroom for servants.

The new almshouse had room for 300 people. The basement contained an ironing room, dry house, smoking room, bathroom, bakery, and flour room. The female ward was located to the right of the main entrance. On the first floor was a reception room, eleven sleeping rooms, dormitories, sitting room, clothing room, and nursery. The second floor of the female ward had a sewing room, toilet room, additional dormitories, and a hospital room. The men’s ward was located to the left of the main entrance. The first floor was laid out similar to the female ward with a reception room, eleven sleeping rooms, and a dormitory, but also included a chapel and the almshouse kitchen and dining room. The second floor of the men’s ward included a school room, hospital room, dormitory, and rooms for officers.

The insane asylum was built to house 175 patients. The U-shaped building had a main corridor with a wing off of each side for the female ward (left) and male ward (right). The layout of each ward was similar: dining room, sleeping rooms, attendant’s rooms, and toilet rooms. The women’s ward included a serving room. Sleeping rooms for each department were located on the second floor. The basement of the asylum contained recreation rooms and bathrooms.

A two-story prison building, connected to the almshouse by an underground tunnel, had room for 80 men and 40 women. In the basement was a toilet room, smoking room, and stock room. The first floor had separate dining rooms for men and women, and two sleeping rooms for officers. The second floor contained separate sleeping rooms for males and females, three large rooms for each sex.

Outdoor space was used by those living in the almshouse and the asylum. Outbuildings on the property included stock and horse barns, a piggery, slaughterhouse, blacksmith shop, carpenter shop, meat room, outdoor refrigerator, and an undertaker’s room.

The population of the poor farm increased during the harsh New England winter months, housing up to 650 inmates. In the summer, that number decreased to around 400.

A cemetery was added to the property in 1896 with each graved marked with a numbered marble tablet, the numbers corresponding to records giving a short description of the illness and death of the deceased. Records for everyone who was born, lived, or died on the farm between 1894 and 1924 are kept at the Goffstown Historical Society. While many of the grave markers have been identified, nearly 710 men and women buried in the cemetery remain anonymous. The graveyard sits behind the almshouse building, across from the railroad.

It has been recorded through correspondence that unclaimed bodies of the deceased were sold to Dartmouth Medical School for use in anatomy classes, as allowed by law. The medical school paid $40 for each body, which included the cost of embalming and transporting the bodies to the school.

The county recognized the need for a separate hospital to care for the county’s poor, and in 1906 a new hospital was built across the street from the poor farm. The hospital was “very completely equipped for the care of the sick, having separate wards for men and women, physician’s office, rooms for nurses, an operating room, a maternity ward, and a well-arranged ward for tubercular patients.” The Hillsborough County Hospital was renamed the Moore General Hospital in 1953 and demolished in 1995.

Prisoners continued to be held at the Hillsborough House of Correction through the 1980s. Eventually, male prisoners were moved to another facility and in 1986 it was transformed into a medium security women’s prison.

The almshouse began to focus care on the county’s elderly population and became the Hillsborough County Nursing Home in the 1960s. In 1977, a new nursing home was built down the road from the county home and all patients were moved to the new facility.

It is unknown when exactly the insane asylum closed. It’s very possible that during the early 20th century, patients were slowly moved to the state hospital or other nearby mental health facilities.

The author of the History of the Town of Goffstown, published in 1922, reflects on the impact the Hillsborough County Poor Farm and its institutions had on the community:

“…how many thousands have been sheltered by the institution. What tales or sorrow could some of the unfortunates unfold. To some it has been an enforced retreat, to the far greater numbers a ‘haven of refuge.’ All classes, kinds and conditions have from time to time been cared for. The poor, the unfortunate, the sick, the insane and the idiotic have all found what many of them never knew before, a comfortable home, afforded them by the County of Hillsborough.”

Present Day

The original administrative and almshouse buildings at Grasmere, along with a few outbuildings, still stand off of Mast Road in Goffstown. They currently house the Hillsborough County Complex and Goffstown Court. The jail and asylum buildings have since been demolished. The Hillsborough County Cemetery can be accessed from the Goffstown Rail Trail.

The Whiting Farm is a registered historic property and private home. The only remnants of the original poor farm are a single barn and stone foundations.

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  From left to right: Insane Asylum, Almshouse (women’s wing left, men’s wing right), Main Building (front), House of Corrections, barns. Hillsborough Poor Farm at Grasmere, 1900.

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  Wilton Poor Farm, 1867-1894.

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  Hillsborough Poor Farm Buildings, Grasmere, 1909.

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  Hillsborough County Hospital, Grasmere, 1909.

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  Bakery in the Almshouse, 1903.

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  Dining room in Insane Asylum, 1903.

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  Dormitory in House of Corrections, 1903.

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  Chapel room at Hillsborough Poor Farm, 1903.

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  Dining room in Almshouse, 1903.

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  Dining room in House of Corrections, 1903.

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  Kitchen in Almshouse, 1903.

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  Sewing/Sitting room in Insane Asylum, 1903.

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  Sewing/Sitting room in Almshouse, 1903.

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  Women’s dormitory in Almshouse, 1903.

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  Hillsborough County Farm in 1910s/1920s.

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  Sanborn Map of Hillsborough County Farm, 1921.

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  Sanborn Map of Hillsborough County Hospital, 1921.

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  Markers at Hillsborough County Cemetery

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  Memorial at Hillsborough County Cemetery

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  Hillsborough County Complex, original main building and almshouse (behind) exist today.