Miscellaneous Matters. 381 



Cushing for wood for the workhouse. It seems probable that 

 this house was first occupied iu 1785. 



The second house was a brick structure which stood on the tri- 

 angle of land bounded by Main, Pond, and Pleasant streets, and 

 was built in 1817. It was destroyed by fire Nov. 19, 1831. The 

 following account of the fire is from the Hingham Gazette : — 



" Our village was alarmed on Saturday morning last, at about 

 one o'clock, by the cry of fire in the Almshouse. The fire had 

 advanced so far when discovered that the few individuals who 

 were on the spot, after an ineffectual attempt to extinguish it, 

 thought it most prudent to remove immediately all the inmates of 

 the house, the town paupers, records, furniture, etc., in which they 

 were successful. The engine companies were on the ground 

 promptly with their engines, but the progress of the flames was so 

 rapid that they could do nothing more than protect other property 

 which was exposed. Within two hours from the time they ar- 

 rived the building was consumed and its brick walls fell in. By 

 this calamity the town sustains a loss estimated from $4,000 to 

 $5,000, and at a season of the year when it will be impracticable 

 to repair the loss. The Overseers of the Poor have caused the 

 dwelling-house belonging to the town, on the Almshouse lot, to 

 be fitted up for the reception of a considerable portion of the poor,, 

 which, together with the accommodations hospitably tendered by 

 the overseers of some of the neighboring towns and the kindness 

 of friends, will enable them to place them all in a comfortable 

 situation during the winter." 



Steps were taken by the town to supply the place of the Alms- 

 house thus destroyed, and at a town-meeting held Feb. 14, 1832, 

 a committee made a detailed report in relation to the site and 

 kind of a building proposed to be erected. This committee recom- 

 mended to the town " the purchase of a tract of land lying upon 

 Weymouth Back River, adjoining the Hingham and Quincy turn- 

 pike, containing about 43 acres, consisting of tillage, mowing, 

 pasture, woodland, and salt marsh, at an estimated cost of $2,000, 

 and the erection of a brick building 70 feet in length, three 

 stories in height (including the basement), with a projection in 

 front, and two brick partition-walls separating the centre from 

 the wings, at an estimated cost of $4,749.02." The report was 

 accepted and the recommendations adopted. The land was pur- 

 chased, since known as the " Town Farm," and contracts were 

 made for the building which was erected in 1832. It was the 

 same building which has since been in use as an almshouse and 

 workhouse. 



The entire cost of the " Almshouse Establishment," according to 

 the published reports of the town, which include land, almshouse, 

 well, pump, yard to house, shed and other outbuildings, barn, 

 cholera-house, and cells, amounted to $10,839.94. 



As these houses were established mainly in the interest of in- 

 dustry, it would be interesting to know how the inmates were 



