Somerset Residential Care Center – Madison ME

Description

During the Great Depression the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) funded the labor for the construction of what is now known as the Somerset Residential Care Center, in Madison, Maine.

When constructed, the facility went by a different name: the “town farm.” Town farms were once the means by which rural towns in New England cared for or warehoused (depending on the local conditions) the elderly, the mentally handicapped, disabled, transients, etc.

The community notes from April 11, 1935 notes that “Work started Friday forenoon on the two weeks’ ERA project, painting and repairing the buildings at the Madison town farm. There was some delay in starting the work with a near strike of ERA workers caused by some misunderstanding concerning the rate established for labor and time. The workmen seemed to be under the impression that the wage price and hours of working were established locally. There is no local administrator and the rate of thirty five cents an hour and the number of working hours was established from the Waterville office. After the foreman of the workers for this project had communicated with ERA officials at Waterville by telephone and learned that all wages and time are not set locally as they thought, the crew left for the town farm and commenced their labors.”