Thursday, April 18, 2013

Bath Old Ladies Home

From the Bath [Maine] Independent,
March 5, 1910
Old Ladies Home

Location: Bath, Maine, USA

Opened/Closed: Around 1910

This is one of those random accidental finds. An unnamed photographer working for the local newspaper in Bath, Maine goes out to the Old Ladies Home and snaps a photograph of the residents on the porch. Other than being assured that they "live as one happy family," we are not told anything about these women. We don't even know their names.

Were they really happy--or at least content--to be living out their lives together? Did they regard themselves as a family? Did they miss their old homes?

I guess we will never know.

This source states that the Old Ladies Home was established sometime after the Civil War and that it was "sparked by the bequest of Mrs. Mary J. Ledyard and further funded by private citizens of Bath."

According to Benevolent Instutions (1904), a publication put out by the U.S Bureau of the Census, the Old Ladies Home in Bath, Maine was one of 21 institutions by this name. We'll be reporting on some of these places in the near future, promise.



Old Ladies Home, Bath, ME



Bath, ME  Old Ladies Home

 

1 comment:

  1. The top photo is mislabeled. That was actually the orphan's home. The bottom photo is indeed the Bath Old Ladies Home, which was torn down 15 years ago to make way for the high school expansion.

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