Rockingham Free Public Library | |
Logo Alt: | black image of openbook along with name of library in a vertical orientation |
Architect: | McLean & Wright |
Location: | Bellows Falls, Vermont |
Coordinates: | 43.1308°N -72.4446°W |
Collection Size: | 44,000 titles |
Director: | Ian Graham |
Num Employees: | nine |
Parent Organisation: | --> |
Rockingham Free Public Library is one of four Carnegie Libraries in the state of Vermont.[1] The building, in Bellows Falls, Vermont, a village of Rockingham, Vermont, was designed by Boston architects McLean & Wright in Classical Revival style.[2] [3] The Carnegie grant was offered in 1905. The town took a while to decide on allocating matching funds.[4] The library officially opened on November 23, 1909. A children's annex was added to the building in 1929.[5] In 2003 a new entryway and elevator were added for improved accessibility.
Prior to this building being built, the Rockingham Free Public Library occupied a room in the lower floor of the town's opera house. Before that, there was a subscription library founded on October 28, 1799, as the Rockingham Library Society. The book collection moved around town occupying a room in the town's first high school, and a local drug store. The town's first public library card was issued in 1888.[6]