The “poor farm”, known by many as the “town farm”, was home to Alden Harbour from his birth in 1919 to 1936. His parents, Alfred and Thersa Harbour, were the overseers of the farm which was located across the street from where the Molly Stark School now stands. The farm stretched from this point to Willow Park. The selectmen of Bennington would allow elderly or poor families to bid on the farm which was owned by the town. The family that submitted the lowest bid would be the overseers. The money bid was given to the family by the town to be used to cover the annual expenses affiliated with the farm’s operation. As such, the family was responsible for the daily operations of the farm. If they were able to work, “inmates”, a term used for the workers who resided on the farm, along with transitional labor - tramps and hobos - provided the necessary labor. In the year 1937, 1,555 tramps were taken in by the “town farm”. The number of inmates averaged 26 per year. In 1936, after 19 years of successful bidding on the farm, the Harbours lost the bid by $140. This ended their years as overseer of the town farm.