Guilford H. Hathaway Library

The Guilford H. Hathaway Library was built in 1895, and given to the town by Miss E. Florence Hathaway as a memorial to her father.

The gift was appreciated by the citizens of Freetown because they had grown to realize that the town-office, which had served them as a library for three years, was quite inadequate to their growing needs, besides causing much inconvenience to the town officers.

In 1892 Mr. George B. Cudworth, Mr. Gilbert M. Nichols and Miss Hathaway were appointed as trustees, and the appropriation of twenty-five dollars made, necessary to establish a claim on the one hundred dollars offered by the State. The State sent its money equivalent in books, and the library was begun.

When the library began to outgrow its limits, and there was talk of moving to another part of the Town Hall, Miss Hathaway came forward with her generous proposition and the present library was the ultimate result.