[2] On October 12, 1886, he married Augusta Shaefer of Windsor Locks, Connecticut; the couple had three children, one son and two daughters.

While the previous administration determined requirements for the project, it was Farr's which worked with the Committee of Sewers and Drains to raise funds through bonds, and ultimately appropriate more than $300,000 for construction (equivalent to $8.1 million in 2016).

[6][7] During this time Farr presided over the construction of sewers for the neighborhoods of Elmwood, Oakdale, and Springdale, as well as two new school buildings.

This work was especially important in that time, as only 20 years earlier in 1872, the city had the 2nd highest mortality rate in the Commonwealth and state health inspectors described many areas covered with "filth and green slime, [while] within twenty feet [tenants] lived in basements".

[7] In the span of that year Farr reported that all construction of the necessary permanent improvements was performed without any overdraft from the treasury or suspension of funds.