RBGA Small Business of the Month- January 2005

Beverly Farm Foundation is a loving, caring home for adults with developmental disabilities, providing each individual with physical and emotional security and a dignified quality of life, with opportunities and challenges, within each individual’s functional capabilities.    

Beverly Farm is a planned community that nearly 400 individuals with Developmental and Intellectual disabilities call home. There are homes and jobs, a recreation center with a pool, a full dining facility, an equestrian center, shops, a pavilion, all kinds of activities, medical services, therapies, and much more. Cottages, group homes, apartments, and community-based options make up the landscape, people make it home.    

Beverly Farm was founded in 1897 by Dr. William H.C. Smith and his wife, Elizabeth. They had been searching for a suitable track of land where they could establish a fundamentally different approach in caring for people who live with developmental disabilities. Dr. and Mrs. Smith found the perfect location in Godfrey, Illinois. Here they would offer a caring home, socialization, proper medical care, healthy diet, physical exercise, education, recreation and meaningful work – a radical concept at the time.