| Library Name: | Hubbard Free Library | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Country: | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Public Library | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location: | 115 Second Street Hallowell, Maine | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Website: | http://www.hubbardfree.org
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The Hubbard Free Library is the public library serving Hallowell, Maine.[1] Built in 1879-80, it is the oldest library building in Maine built for that purpose.[2] It was designed by architect Alexander C. Currier to resemble an English country church. 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.[3] The building is a contributing property in the Hallowell Historic District.
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.[4] 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.[5]
The Friends group began a campaign to raise money for a permanent building in 1878, and in 1880 the building was dedicated.[6] The cost of the original library was $8,300, which included the land and building. Alexander C. Currier donated his services, designing and supervising the construction of the original building.[7] 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.[8] The iron fret work that originally adorned the peaks of the building was donated by Prescott & Fuller Iron Foundry.[9]
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.[10] 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.
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.[11]