History

The Foundation was launched with a generous bequest from Primus Mason, an African-American who was born as a freeman in 1817. Mason died in 1892, leaving the sum of $25,000 to found a "home for aged men."

Mason’s desire was to have his funds accumulate before a home was opened. So, although our first Annual Report was published in 1898, our first home was not officially opened until 1903. It was proclaimed as one of the "active and permanent institutions of the city," according to the Springfield Union of November 17th that year.

Over the decades to follow, the shared values of two cultures manifested as men and women—both African American and Caucasian, gifted generously to the Foundation. In fact, during the 40 years that followed Mason’s bequest, more than $300,000 was donated to the Foundation by a number of area citizens concerned for the welfare of the elderly. So great was the concern of some, that even during the Depression years a number of gifts ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 were made to the Foundation. If you are interested in seeing a list of our early donors, along with the amounts they gave, we invite you to visit our archives page.

Subsequent to Mason’s gift, the largest gift to the Foundation was made through a bequest from Horace P. Wright. His initial gift, ultimately amounting to more than $500,000 was made in 1944. Wright made possible our initial expansion to include 28 independent living townhouse apartments.

In 1990 the old "retirement home" for 40 men and women was leveled, and a modern, four-story building was built with 90 one-bedroom and efficiency apartments, all with private baths, a "luxury" many of our residents have never enjoyed.

Mason-Wright Retirement Community

The new campus is named the Mason-Wright Retirement Community Our facilities, separated by an expansive lawn in a campus-like setting, consist of a four-story Assisted Living facility, where one floor provides Dementia Care, a separate building with townhouse apartments for Independent Living, and a Senior Center that serves our residents, as well as other seniors from the Mason Square area.

We were able to build our expanded facilities by marrying bold vision with creative financing—enabling partners to utilize tax credits in return for financing our venture. This makes Mason-Wright the only 100% low income project of its kind in the Commonwealth a national model for non-traditional financing to provide assisted living for the elderly poor.

In 2008 the Springfield Home for the Elderly was re-named the Mason-Wright Foundation in honor of its two most generous benefactors and to better reflect our relationship to the proud name of Mason-Wright Retirement Community.

Mission

Still true to our founding purpose, our mission today remains "to provide independence and dignity for our region’s neediest elderly through quality residential and support services, including independent living, assisted living and dementia care."