The ignominy of being 'on the town'

The Middletown (Conn.) Alms (Poor) House, where the town's indigent would live at the expense of the town.

“In a society still under the sway of Calvinist attitudes, as were the rural communities of New England, a degree of disgrace would attach to the condition of being poor….Thus to “go on the town’’ would be viewed as an ignominy to be avoided if at all possible – and of course it would be a public ignominy, for everyone knew who the poor were and often they would be discussed in town meeting.’’

-- From The New England Town in Fact and Fiction, by Perry Westbrook.