Inns and taverns were the center of village life in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ashfield House, built on the site of an earlier tavern in Ashfield, Massachusetts, was enlarged in 1899, and enhanced with landscaping before the dawn of the 20th century. The gas shortages of World War I (1914-1918), coupled with the new hotel developments nearly sealed its fate. A victim of the economy, it closed during the Depression (1929-1939), but still stood. In 1943, Ashfield House re-opened under the ownership of one of its former workers, but after five years it was converted into a rest home.