Hubbard Free Library
{{Short description|Public library in Maine, U.S.}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{ infobox library
| image = Hubbard Free Library Hallowell ME circa 1895 HABS cropped.jpg
| library_name = Hubbard Free Library
| country = United States
| type = Public Library
| established =
| location = 115 Second Street
Hallowell, Maine
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| website = http://www.hubbardfree.org
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Hallowell Historic District
| embed = yes
| nrhp_type = cp
| nocat = yes
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| coordinates = {{coord|44|17|9.28|N|69|47|29|W|display=inline,title}}
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| built = 1879-80, 1893-94, 1897-98
| architect = Alexander C. Currier
| architecture = Gothic Revival
| added = October 28, 1970
| refnum = 70000076{{NRISref|2007a}}
}}
}}
The Hubbard Free Library is the public library serving Hallowell, Maine.{{Cite web |url=http://www.hubbardfree.org/cirpol.html |title=Hubbard Free Library |access-date=2012-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222114737/http://www.hubbardfree.org/cirpol.html |archive-date=2012-02-22 |url-status=dead }} Built in 1879-80, it is the oldest library building in Maine built for that purpose.[http://home.comcast.net/~jaulik/miscpublib.html Library Postcards] 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.Old Hallowell on the Kennebec, 1909, p. 21. 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.Manual of public libraries, institutions, and societies: in the United States, 1859, p. 71. 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.The New England Register 1880, p. 294.
The Friends group began a campaign to raise money for a permanent building in 1878, and in 1880 the building was dedicated.Address and Poem at the Dedication of the Hallowell Library: March 9, 1880, p. 17 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.{{Cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/me/me0000/me0057/data/me0057data.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121004135648/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/me/me0000/me0057/data/me0057data.pdf |archive-date=2012-10-04 |url-status=dead }} 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.[http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/31349/ Maine Memory Network - Gov. Joseph R. Bodwell, Hallowell, ca. 1887] The iron fret work that originally adorned the peaks of the building was donated by Prescott & Fuller Iron Foundry.[http://historichallowell.mainememory.net/page/2473/display.html Historic Hallowell – The Fuller Foundry]
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.Address and Poem at the Dedication, March 15, 1894 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.[http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/29192 Maine Memory Network - Eliza Clark Lowell, Hallowell, ca. 1897]
File:Hubbard Free Library Hallowell ME circa 1880 HABS cropped.jpg|Interior, circa 1880.
File:Hubbard Free Library Hallowell ME 1971 HABS.jpg|Interior, 1971.
References
{{Reflist|33em}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.hubbardfree.org/}}
- [http://hallowell.govoffice.com/ City of Hallowell]
{{authority control}}
Category:Library buildings completed in 1880
Category:Public libraries in Maine
Category:Libraries in Kennebec County, Maine
Category:Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Category:Historic district contributing properties in Maine
Category:Buildings and structures in Hallowell, Maine
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Kennebec County, Maine