Cragin Memorial Library (1905)

Begun as a lyceum in 1856, the Colchester Library Association was formally organized in 1879. Having occupied various rented quarters, the library’s permanent home at 8 Linwood Avenue was opened in 1905. A former Bacon Academy student, Dr. Edwin B. Cragin, a New York physician, provided the funds to complete the building, which was named the Cragin Memorial Library. Dr. Cragin was a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, known for his phrase: “Once a cesarean, always a cesarean.” The Library was built on the site where the Cragin family home had once stood. The architect of the Neoclassical building was Albert B. Boss of New York. The library was later expanded with a new building in 2002.

Oliver Wolcott Library (1799)

The building at 160 South Street in Litchfield was built in 1799 as a house by Elijah Wadsworth. In 1814, it was purchased by Oliver Wolcott, Jr. The house was just across the street from the former home of his father, Oliver Wolcott, Sr., later occupied by his brother. Oliver, Sr. was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Governor of Connecticut from 1796 to 1797. Oliver, Jr., who attended Yale and Tapping Reeve’s Litchfield Law School, served as Secretary of the Treasury under Washington and Adams, from 1795 to 1800, and as Governor of Connecticut, from 1817 to 1827. Wolcott added the two-story south wing to the Wadsworth House a few years after purchasing it. The house was given to the Litchfield Historical Society in 1963. The Society and the town library at that time shared the Noyes Memorial Building on the Green. The Society gave the Wolcott House to the library as its new home, in return for retaining the Noyes Building. The library hired Eliot Noyes and Associates of New Canaan to design a new modern wing at the rear of the Wolcott House, which began construction in 1965. The following year, the library moved into its new home and took the name Oliver Wolcott Library in honor of both Oliver Wolcott, Sr. and Oliver Wolcott, Jr.

Plumb Memorial Library (1894)

David Wells Plumb was a successful manufacturer in Birmingham (Derby) and Ansonia, who later settled in Shelton. In 1892, he led a committee of citizens which established a free public library, which opened the following year on the second floor of the Pierpont Block. D.W. Plumb then planned to erect a dedicated library building, but died before he could undertake the project or include funds for it in his will. His brother Horace, a Bridgeport businessman, decided to honor his brother’s wishes and financed the building of the library. Named the Plumb Memorial Library in honor of his brother, it was completed in 1894 on land donated by Plumb’s widow, Louise, next to their family home. The architect for the Richardsonian Romanesque structure was Charles T. Beardsley, Jr. of Bridgeport. A modern addition to the library was constructed in 1974.

Augusta Curtis Cultural Center (1903)

As described in A Century of Meriden (1906), in the nineteenth century there had been “various spasmodic attempts to raise sufficient money to start a free public library” in Meriden, a goal finally achieved with the opening of a library in 1899, located in two rented rooms in a house on East Main Street. Funding for the library came from “the ladies of the Thursday Morning Club,” whose winter lecture series of 1897-1898 had “proved so successful that at the close of the season the treasury of the club was found to have quite a sum of money on hand.” The library quickly outgrew its small rooms and

On December 7, 1900, Mrs. George R. Curtis announced that she would contribute sufficient money to buy a site, erect a suitable building for a library and thoroughly equip it, providing the town would vote to annually appropriate $3,000 for running expenses. At a special town meeting held on the evening of March 12, 1901, it was unanimously voted to accept the offer made by Mrs. Curtis. Plans presented by W. H. Allen, of New Haven, were accepted, but as Mr. Allen at this time removed to California, Richard Williams, his successor, and who had drawn the plans, became the supervising architect. The Lawrence property on the east corner of East Main and Pleasant streets was bought and work on the site was soon begun.

The cornerstone of the Curtis Memorial Library was laid on September 28, 1901. The completed building, constructed of Vermont White marble by the H. Wales Lines Company, Meriden’s premier construction firm, was formally opened on April 20, 1903. The building served as the library for seventy years, until a new building was erected on Miller Street. Today, the former library is home to the Augusta Curtis Cultural Center, a non-profit organization founded in 2000, which hosts lectures, exhibits and interactive programs focused on the arts and sciences.

Torrington Library (1901)

Torrington Library

A history of the Torrington Library is provided in Vol. 1 of William J. Pape’s History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley (1918):

The Torrington Library was founded on October 22, 1864, by a group of what were then Wolcottville residents, each supplying a quantity of books. It was known as the Wolcottville Library Association. Early in 1865 the library and reading room were opened to the public. During its first fifteen years it occupied rooms in the Granite Block. In 1880 it was removed to larger quarters, in the Wetmore Building, on the corner of Church and Prospect streets, subsequently called the Library Building. In 1881 it became known as the Torrington Library Association, and in 1899 it was officially incorporated as the “Torrington Library.”

The library owes its present equipment to two Torrington benefactors, Lauren Wetmore and Elisha Turner. The former, who died in 1890, gave to the public for “the establishment of a free public library and reading room,” the income from the Wetmore Building and personal property to the value of $20,000. Elisha Turner, in 1899, gave the site and present magnificent library structure to Torrington. Mr. Turner died in 1900 and willed a total, including his previous gift, of $100,000 to the association.

The dedication took place in 1901. The building is of white marble in a simple treatment of the Neo-Greek style of architecture.

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Russell Library, Middletown (1834)

Middletown’s Russell Library, at the corner of Broad and Court Streets, was originally built in 1834 as Christ Episcopal Church, a Greek Revival building designed by Barzallai D. Sage. The church later constructed a new building in 1874 on Main Street and was renamed the Church of the Holy Trinity. In 1873, the original church building was sold to Frances Ann Russell, widow of Samuel Russell, who had it completely remodeled in the Gothic style and donated it as a public library. Originally opened in 1876, the Library has had a number of additions over the years: the Hubbard wing in 1930; a new Children’s Library in 1973 in what had been the First Federal Saving and Loan Association of Meriden; and a major expansion in 1983, which connected the various library buildings and created the inner courtyard.

Aldrich Free Public Library (1896)

David L. Aldrich and Edwin Milner operated woolen mills in the Plainfield village of Mossup. When Aldrich died in 1889, he left $3,000 towards the construction of a public library, with the condition that others raise a matching amount. His partner Milner pledged $2,000 and the rest was raised by the town residents. In 1893, the Aldrich Free Public Library Association was organized and the building was completed in 1895, with final construction costs paid by Milner so that the money raised by the town could be spent on books. The Aldrich Free Public Library opened on Washington’s Birthday, February 22, 1896. The house-like Queen Anne-style building (pdf) was designed by Charles F. Wilcox of Providence, Rhode Island and was built by Willis Rouse, a local carpenter and a contractor and dealer in sash and architectural millwork in Central Village.