The town of Dixville, situated in the country of Stanstead and the district of St-Francis, was originally known as Drew' Mills, named after a settler, who the early 1800s, had built a saw mill at this location on the Coaticook River. Shortly before the turn of the century, it was re-named Dixville, after Richard Dick Baldwin, who was known as Uncle Dick by the majority of the town's residents.
In July 1954, John Visser and Gerrit Van Der Mark immigrated from Holland to Canada, settling at Baldwin's Mills, where Mr. Visser's sister resided. After having worked for four years at the Butter's Center for the intellectually disabled, they opened their first group home, which was named Albert Schweitzer, at Dixville on April 7, 1958
They started with five clients and one house, which had originally been the Baptist parsonage. They believe that if the intellectually disabled were trained physically, academically and vocationally, each person would have the opportunity to develop towards their potential.
Over the years, Dixville Home Inc. gradually grew from one to ten group homes, encompassing nearly two hundred acres, and providing services to one hundred and twelve persons. Also included was a church, school, sugar bush and village store, as well as a large vocational program based on gardening and the maintenance of the properties. A strong bond developed between the Center and the surrounding community. The Center enhanced the local economy providing employment to over one hundred staff members on a full and part time basis.
The community responded with many charitable acts of kindness, financial support, as well as developing a respect for the work that was being done.
In the 1960s, Mr. Visser moved to Indonesia, where he continued his guest to help those in need. In 1968, Dixville Home Inc. became a public institution and was then financed by the Government of Quebec. In 1992 the Center joined Centre Notre Dame de l'Enfant of Sherbrooke, Quebec, where both center continue to work together to provide services to the intellectually disabled through the administrative area of Region 05.
This administrative area stretches from Stansted to Magog and Mansonville, and from Richmond to Megantic, with its largest concentration of population in Sherbrooke. Dixville Home Inc. currently provides services to over two hundred clientele, who are spread throughout this region and still maintains an office and about thirty clients at the Dixville site.
