Because everyone loves old photos, here's a slide show! (All photos courtesy of The Concord Public Library.)
In 1855, $1,500 was appropriated for the opening of a library. Of that appropriation, $300 was for furniture and other fixtures and $1,200 was to be used for books, maps, charts and other publications.
On March 23, 1857, the library opened on the second floor of city hall. Users were charged 25 cents annually plus 12 cents for a library catalog.
In Oct. 1888, the library moved to the Fowler Building at 36 School St. Library user fees had been abandoned earlier that year.
In 1907, electric lights and a telephone were installed in the library.
In 1938, The library vacated the Fowler building due to the construction of the State House Annex. The library moved to its new home on Green Street on Jan. 29, 1940.
The Penacook branch opened on Nov. 8, 1947 in the former Penacook police station. The remodel cost $12,900. The same year, the Concord library offered a “fine-less” book week and received back many long overdue books.
In October 1965, the library broke ground for a new addition. It was completed in 1966 and officially opened in January 1967. It added 10,000 square feet, including the auditorium, a listening room and housing for the library’s bookmobile.
In 1984, the library began shifting manual files to its first microcomputer. By 1988, staff stopped filing new records into the card catalog. The card catalogs were permanently removed in 1992.
In 1991, the bookmobile garage was turned into the Concord Room, the reference room was expanded and a house on Prince Street was demolished for a parking lot expansion.
By 1994, library users could check the card catalog from their home computer using a dial-up internet connect. The first public computers in the library were installed in 1996.
In 2002, a $50,000 renovation on the children’s room was completed, adding a new circulation desk, reference desk, shelving, carpet and seating.
In 2005, the library celebrated its 150th anniversary. A time capsule was created and is scheduled to be opened on the 200th anniversary of the library, Aug. 25, 2055.
We couldn’t have created this timeline without Ginny Babczak’s hard work. To celebrate the library’s 150th anniversary, she wrote a history with lots of interesting tidbits from town reports and other sources. The book is available at the library or online at onconcord.com/Library. (Click on “library history.”)
