ONE OF THE FIRST WOMEN featured in our current “Women in Wakefield” series was Elizabeth E. Boit, the prominent local businesswoman who, in partnership with Charles Winship, founded the Harvard Knitting Mills. Miss Boit was also a generous philanthropist, co-founding a home for elderly women on Bennett Street that would later be named in her honor. Boit and Elizabeth Morton led a group that raised $4,000 to purchase the former Park Estate on Bennett Street. The building faced Main Street, although it was set well back from the town’s primary thoroughfare. What would eventually become the Elizabeth E. Boit Home for Aged Women (shown here in 1930) welcomed its first four residents in 1896. During its early years, prospective residents were required to have lived in Wakefield for at least 10 years and had to be of the Protestant faith. By 1921, an addition to the home allowed it to accommodate 12 women. For 116 years, the Boit Home provided independent living options for local senior women before closing its doors in 2010. The property was sold and the proceeds of $850,000 were awarded to Mystic Valley Elder Services, with some of the funds used to assist local elders with necessities such as heating oil, medication and groceries. A condominium building currently occupies the site.