A very small, saltbox style house was built, possibly for use by tenants on the Ward farm. The family lived across the street in a large two-story farmhouse.
Thomas Walter Ward II died heavily in debt, and the Worcester County Institution for Savings foreclosed on the Ward farm. Henry Galbraith Ward, a relative who had summered at the house as a child, bought the 135 acre farm and its buildings for $4500. He neither lived at the house nor planned to farm the land, but his...
The house has not always retained its proud yellow color. During war time, only battleship gray paint was available. The house was painted as part of its ordinary maintenance, and for a time it was forgotten that the house had once been yellow.