|
A room in
the Town hall was set aside and a library committee was formed
consisting of Miss Tryphena Whiting, Dr. Clarence L. Howes,
Mr. John Simmons, the Reverend Melvin S. Nash, and the
Reverend Thomas Goodwin. The library was opened to the public
on January 4, 1888 on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and
called "The Hanover Free Library". The first librarian was
Miss Ruth Sylvester, who earned $102. for the entire year.
During the first year the committee reported a circulation of
9226 volumes.
In 1893
the Town Hall was renovated and the library was given two
rooms. Mr. Curtis continued donating books to the library
over the years and in 1898 he gave $4000. to set up a trust
fund for future needs. The library committee then became the
trustees of the library and the library was renamed to "John
Curtis Free Library".
Mr. Curtis
died in 1900 and left $15,000 for the erection of a new
library building. These funds would only be available after
the death of his daughter, Miss Alice Marian Curtis. However,
Miss Curtis was a generous woman and in 1906 gave the money to
the library.
The land
for the new building was purchased next to the Town Hall from
Mr. Henry Martin Stetson for $300 and Mr. Edmund Q. Sylvester
was hired as architect. The building was planned to
accommodate 12,000 books and Mr. Sylvester set his fee at 5%
of the cost of the building. Construction began in the spring
of 1907 by the company of Hapgood and Frost of Wellesley with
an estimated cost of $14,275. The library was completed in
December of that year and the dedication ceremony took place
on December 12, 1907. The Hon, Jedediah Dwelley, who was
considered by many to be the leading citizen of Hanover, gave
the principle address and thanked Miss Curtis for her
benevolent gift.
In 1912
Mr. Edward Tindale was commissioned to paint a portrait of
Miss Curtis who had recently died and left an additional
$24,000 to the library. The portrait of Miss Curtis would
hang in the adult reading room beside Jedediah Dwelley, also
painted by Mr. Tindale, and John Curtis, painted by Miss
Curtis herself.
The
library continued to expand its collection and in the 1960s
the rapidly growing Town population resulted in an addition
being approved. The firm of Kilham, Hopkins, Greeley and
Brodie of Boston was engaged as architects. The official
opening of the addition was on November 10, 1968.
Twenty
years later in 1988, it was clear that the library needed to
expand once again. A building committee was formed, designs
drawn, and a State Construction grant was obtained. However,
the Town failed to approve the construction funds and the
project remained in limbo until 1995 when new state money
became available. The Town appropriated funding in 1996 and a
state grant was received in 1999. R. Stewart Roberts
Associates was hired as the architect and G&R Contracting
became the builder. In the fall of 2000, the library moved to
the Salmond School and construction on the Hanover Center site
began. Two years later on October 15, 2002, the library
reopened. |
