The Barney Library in Farmington, adjacent to First Church, was built in 1919. Originally called the Village Library, it was donated to the town by D. Newton Barney, in honor of his mother, Sarah Brandegee Barney. A children’s wing was added in 1959. The Village Library was the town’s main library until 1983, when it became a branch library. It was renamed the Barney Library in 1999.
The Lucy Robbins Welles Library, on Cedar Street in Newington, was dedicated in 1939. It was built on the site of the General Roger Welles House, which had burned down in 1855. That homestead had housed an early town library and had been the childhood home of Edwin Welles, who married Lucy Robbins in 1853. The couple moved into the Italianate house across the street, where they lived for over fifty years. In 1919, their daughters, Fanny A. Welles and Mary Welles Eddy, gave funds and land to build a library in honor of their mother. The town later bought some adjoining land and the library was then constructed. The original structure was designed to resemble a colonial house. The library has been expanded since that time with later additions.
Built in 1884 on the corner of Farmington Avenue and Forest Street in Hartford’s Nook Farm neighborhood, for the lawyer and real estate developer Franklin Chamberlin. Chamberlin was also the original owner of of the neighboring Harriet Beecher Stowe House and he sold Mark Twain the land to build his house, which is also next door. The architect of the Chamberlin-Day House was Francis Kimball, who is most well-known for his skyscrapers. It was later owned by Willie O. Burr, owner and editor of the Hartford Times. In 1939, the house was bought by Katharine Seymour Day, the grand-daughter of John and Isabella Beecher Hooker and the grand-niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Day was living in the Stowe House and rented the Day House to her cousins. She later used the house to store her collection of art, antiques, and documents, many associated with the Beecher, Stowe, Hooker and Seymour families. In 1941, she founded what would become the Stowe-Day Foundation, now known as the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. After her death, the Stowe House was restored and the Day House continues today as the offices and research library of the Stowe Center.