North Haven Cultural Center (1938)

The North Haven Cultural Center, 27 Broadway in North Haven, was built in 1938 as the North Haven Memorial Library. In 1883, Silas L. Bradley of Auburn, NY, left a bequest to start a library in his home town of North Haven. The Bradley Library Association opened in 1884 in the home of Dr. Austin Lord, where it remained until it moved into the newly constructed Memorial Town Hall in 1887. The library’s name was changed to the North Haven Memorial Library in 1907 to recognize the importance of memorial bequests in establishing the library and to encourage future donations. In the 1920s and 1930s, enough funds and a gift of land allowed construction of a new library building. Dedicated in 1938, the library was designed by Robert Booth and constructed by the C. F. Wooding Company of Wallingford at a cost of $26,899.52. In the 1960s, the Memorial Library Association also came to administer the Martha Culver Library in North Haven on behalf of the town. In 1970, the Library Association offered its existing building and land to the town in exchange for constructing a new library building that would be run by the town. The new library was dedicated in 1972 and the old library building became the North Haven Cultural Center, which is now home to the North Haven Historical Society and the North Haven Art Guild.