In 1902, the patient population at Danvers State Hospital had grown too large for the facilities to support. They purchased 100 acres near the border of Danvers and Middleton so that the farm could expand, and another long-term facility could be constructed. 

The Middleton Colony opened in 1903 in Middleton, MA. It originally housed 300 chronic female patients. Additional structures were built on the site to support the Danvers State Hospital farm. In the mid-1980s, NFI, a juvenile justice system, took over many of the buildings at the Middleton Colony. NFI used the buildings until 2014, when they were demolished to make way for a new facility. DYS Middleton opened in 2016 and cost $50 million. All the buildings at the Middleton Colony have been demolished except for one, which is used as a rehab center.