The house at 18 Park Street in Danvers was built in 1843 for Elias Putnam, a shoe manufacturer and first president of the Danvers Village Bank. After his death in 1847, his daughter lived on in the house. It was later purchased by Harvey Hughes Pillsbury, who operated a harness factory in town. In 1901, a corporation was formed to establish the “Danvers Home for the Aged.” In 1905, Harvey Pillsbury’s will provided an endowment and left his residence on Park Street to the Home, which was a favorite cause of his wife Clara. Over the years, the Home’s policy changed from providing full care for residents to operating as a boarding house, which by the start of the current century was empty for several years. Eventually, the Pillsbury Foundation successfully appealed to the courts to sell the house, with the proceeds going into the Foundation to support various programs for the elderly. Structural changes to the house in the twentieth century have included the addition of a front porch with an attached belvedere/gazebo.