Libraries - Historic Buildings of Connecticut

Beardsley and Memorial Library (1898)

This week, we’ll be looking at libraries again. Our first library is the Beardsley (and Memorial Library) in Winchester. As explained by Robert S. Hulbert, in Winsted; the Development of an Ideal Town (1906):

The educational awakening of Winsted was also helped in 1874 by Mrs. Delia Ellen Rockwell Beardsley, widow of Elliott Beardsley, who gave into the hands of [seven] trustees $10,000 for the founding of a library [in West Winsted]. For twenty-five years the books were in a pleasant room in the Beardsley building. Before his death in 1897, the late Jenison J. Whiting began the construction of the Memorial Library. The building was completed [in 1898] after his death by Mrs. Whiting, and with the lot on which it stands, representing a total outlay of about $20,000, was given to the town for the reception of libraries. The Beardsley Library, whose funds had been augmented by a gift of $1,000 from Miss Martha Beardsley at her death, and by $600 given by Rufus E. Holmes of Winsted, was placed in the building. The town then voted [in 1899] an appropriation of $1,500 annually, to meet, with other expenses, those for which a small fee had been charged, and the books in the library were made free to the public.

Today, the Beardslee and Memorial Library continues as a private non-profit organization, voted by the citizens of Barkhamsted, Colebrook, and Winchester to be their public library.

Otis Library (1850)

The old Otis Library building was constructed in downtown Norwich in 1850. It was founded by Deacon Joseph Otis, a retired merchant, who erected the building, purchased its first books and provided an endowment in his will for its continued operation. The library was originally housed on the first floor of the building, with a pastor’s study above. The library eventually outgrew the original structure and was moved to Main Street in the 1960s. The current Otis Library on Main Street was built in 2007. The original building is now known as the William F. Bourgun Memorial and serves as offices for the city’s Department of Human Services.

Brainerd Memorial Library (1908)

Haddam had a number of early library associations before a permanent library building was dedicated in 1908. The earliest dated back to 1793. It folded in 1808, but was succeeded by the Haddam Library Association in 1818. This library was divided in two in 1820, one half located at the northern end of Middlesex turnpike and the other at the southern end. This library was restarted in 1896 and ten years later Cyprian Strong Brainerd, Jr., a native of Haddam Neck who became a lawyer in New York City, gave funds for a library building. It was built at 920 Saybrook Road on land donated by Judge Ephraim P. Arnold, the grandson of Joseph and Thankful Arnold. The Brainerd Memorial Library was designed by McLean and Wright, a Boston architectural firm. An addition was completed in 1997. (more…)

Mystic & Noank Library (1894)

In 1891, Captain Elihu Spicer, a wealthy ship captain of Mystic and Brooklyn, NY, announced that he would construct a library for the Groton communities of Mystic and Noank. Located on the corner of West Main and Elm Streets in West Mystic, the completed Mystic & Noank Library was dedicated in January of 1894. Capt. Spicer did not live to see the opening, having died the year before. The Library‘s architect was William Bigelow of New York (a former partner of McKim and Mead) and the construction was supervised by Spicer’s own architect, William Higginson. When built, the library collection was on the second floor and a meeting room occupied the first floor; today both floors and a 1990s addition to the building are used as library space. Two relief busts, representing Literature and Art, are featured on the front facade of the Library.

Booth & Dimock Memorial Library (1913)

The library association in Coventry was formed in 1880. With help from a donation (requiring a matching sum from the town) from a wealthy California doctor, H. G. Cogswell, who had been cared for as a homeless 10-year-old by a woman from Coventry, the Library found a home in 1894 in a small former-Post Office building. The current library, known as the Booth & Dimock Memorial Library, was built in 1912-1913. Construction was funded by a bequest from Henry Dimock, a New York lawyer born in South Coventry, in memory of his grandfather, Rev. Chauncey Booth, minister of Coventry’s First Congregational Church, and of his father, Dr. Timothy Dimock. The old Greek Revival-style Thomas Clark Homestead, which had previously stood on the property, was torn down in 1911, amid much controversy, to make way for the new library. The Georgian Revival library building was designed by James M. Darrach of New York. A modern addition was constructed in 1987-1989, with a duplicate of the architecture of the old front facade being reproduced on the side of the building facing the expanded parking lot.

Deep River Public Library (1881)

Deep River’s town library was formed in 1900 and was at first located in a room in the Town Hall. Although plans had been made at various times to construct a library building, by the 1930s this had still not been done. Eventually, the 1881 home of Richard Spencer, who had been a President of the Deep River National Bank and a state senator, was purchased by the Library Association and donated to the town as a gift. The Queen Anne/Stick Style House, located on the corner of Main and Village Streets, was renovated and modified to become a library, under the direction of Harvey J. Brooks. The Deep River Public Library opened in 1933, with a new addition being constructed in 1995.

Simsbury Free Library (1890)

The Simsbury Free Library began on the second floor of the Hopmeadow District School in 1874. Amos Richards Eno, the Simsbury-born Real-Estate Tycoon, had given the Library a large endowment and later provided the land and funds for the construction of a library building. Built in 1890, the Library was designed by Melvin H. Hapgood of Hartford in the Colonial Revival style. Eno’s daughter, Antoinette Eno Wood, donated the rear addition of 1924. The Simsbury Public Library was established in 1986 in a new building and the old Simsbury Free Library building was renovated and now contains the Simsbury Genealogical and Historical Research Library and the William Phelps Eno Memorial Center.