The poor farm provided employment and food for indigent people.

(A similar town farm was operated in Hartford, on land now part of the Sigourney Square District.

The older structure dates back to the late 1830s and is a 2+1⁄2-story, Federal style house built of brick.

The back yard contains a long brick outbuilding, which is one story high and has a pitched roof.

His wife died in 1853, at which point he sold the farm and the buildings to the town of Middletown.