Hubbard Free Library

The Hubbard Free Library is the public library serving Hallowell, Maine and the surrounding communities of Chelsea and Farmingdale.[2] Built in 1879-80, it is the oldest library building in Maine built for that purpose.[3] It was designed by architect Alexander C. Currier to resemble an English country church.[3] Dedicated in 1880 as the Hallowell Library, it was renamed the Hubbard Free Library in 1894, after a $20,000 donation from philanthropist Thomas Hubbard.[4] The building is a contributing property in the Hallowell Historic District.

Hubbard Free Library
CountryUnited States
TypePublic Library
Location115 Second Street
Hallowell, Maine
Websitehttp://www.hubbardfree.org
Hallowell Historic District
Coordinates44°17′9.28″N 69°47′29″W
Built1879-80, 1893-94, 1897-98
ArchitectAlexander C. Currier
Architectural styleGothic Revival
NRHP reference No.70000076[1]
Added to NRHPOctober 28, 1970
Map

Founding

The Hallowell Social Library was instituted in 1843, by forty-three stockholders, who paid $20. When first established, the collection was inaccessible to the general public; only subscribers and members of their families were entitled to use the books.[5] The library became a public library five years later, and the use of the library to individuals of the public other than stockholders was available for $3 per year. This fee was reduced to $2 annually the following year, in 1848.[6]

The Friends group began a campaign to raise money for a permanent building in 1878, and in 1880 the building was dedicated.[7] The cost of the original library was $8,300, which included the land and building.[5] Alexander C. Currier donated his services, designing and supervising the construction of the original building.[8] The entire building is of Hallowell granite and was contributed by Joseph R. Bodwell, then-president of the Hallowell Granite Co. and later Governor of Maine.[9] The iron fret work that originally adorned the peaks of the building was donated by Prescott & Fuller Iron Foundry.[10]

Expansion

In 1893, Thomas Hubbard, a Civil War Colonel, lawyer, railroad executive, financier, businessman and philanthropist, donated the funds for the construction of a free library. In March 1894, the new structure was complete and was renamed Hubbard Free Library.[11] The money was used to build an addition to the existing building, in the form of a cross-axial transept, in keeping with the original church design.[8]

A second addition was added in 1897, with $10,000 donated by Eliza Clark Lowell of Hallowell, a direct descendant of Deacon Pease Clark, who was the first settler in Hallowell.[12]

  • Interior, circa 1880.
  • Interior, 1971.
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References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Hubbard Free Library". Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2012-04-18.
  3. Library Postcards
  4. Old Hallowell on the Kennebec, 1909, p. 21.
  5. Manual of public libraries, institutions, and societies: in the United States, 1859, p. 71.
  6. The New England Register 1880, p. 294.
  7. Address and Poem at the Dedication of the Hallowell Library: March 9, 1880, p. 17
  8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2012-04-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Maine Memory Network - Gov. Joseph R. Bodwell, Hallowell, ca. 1887
  10. Historic Hallowell - The Fuller Foundry
  11. Address and Poem at the Dedication, March 15, 1894
  12. Maine Memory Network - Eliza Clark Lowell, Hallowell, ca. 1897
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