In the heart of Asylum Hill, 49 smallpox victims were buried in 1872 on what was the Town Farm. Those who were poor and receiving any kind of assistance in the city were required to live at this almshouse and work on the farm. This property on Sigourney Street also had a hospital.

Those who died during that outbreak were buried beneath what is now Sigourney Square Park.

Smallpox has been since eradicated, thanks to vaccines.