Hubbard Free Library

Hubbard Free Library
Location	115 Second Street Hallowell, Maine, United States
Type	Public Library
Other information
Website	http://www.hubbardfree.org
Hallowell Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Coordinates	44°17′9.28″N 69°47′29″W
Built	1879-80, 1893-94, 1897-98
Architect	Alexander C. Currier
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.	70000076[1]
Added to NRHP	October 28, 1970

The Hubbard Free Library is the public library serving Hallowell, Maine.[2] Built in 1879-80, it is the oldest library building in Maine built for that purpose.[3] It was designed by architect Alexander C. Currier to resemble an English country church.[3] 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.[4] The building is a contributing property in the Hallowell Historic District.

Founding

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.[5] 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.[6]

The Friends group began a campaign to raise money for a permanent building in 1878, and in 1880 the building was dedicated.[7] The cost of the original library was $8,300, which included the land and building.[5] Alexander C. Currier donated his services, designing and supervising the construction of the original building.[8] 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.[9] The iron fret work that originally adorned the peaks of the building was donated by Prescott & Fuller Iron Foundry.[10]

Expansion

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.[11] 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.[8]

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.[12]

• 
  Interior, circa 1880.
• 
  Interior, 1971.

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
2. "Hubbard Free Library". Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
3. Library Postcards
4. Old Hallowell on the Kennebec, 1909, p. 21.
5. Manual of public libraries, institutions, and societies: in the United States, 1859, p. 71.
6. The New England Register 1880, p. 294.
7. Address and Poem at the Dedication of the Hallowell Library: March 9, 1880, p. 17
8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
9. Maine Memory Network - Gov. Joseph R. Bodwell, Hallowell, ca. 1887
10. Historic Hallowell – The Fuller Foundry
11. Address and Poem at the Dedication, March 15, 1894
12. Maine Memory Network - Eliza Clark Lowell, Hallowell, ca. 1897

External links

• Official website
• City of Hallowell