G. A. R. Memorial Library

WEST NEWBURY, MA.

West Newbury’s first library was formed in 1819, the year West Newbury became a town.  Called the “First Social Library” it was a private institution that was housed in many different places including the #1 schoolhouse, barbershop and First Parish Meeting House.

Several other libraries existed during the 19th century including one formed around 1870 by Leonard Woodman Smith, a local historian and journalist, in his home on Maple Street.  A card costs 75 cents per year.

In 1874 the Merrimac Lodge of Good Templars assisted by the Debating Club made an effort to start a town library.  For a year this was located in the Good Templars’ Hall over Whittier’s Store, where Brunault’s Auto Repair now stands.  In 1875 the Ladies’ Library Association was formed to help the library “in all needful ways”.  The Ladies raised $114, and Hayden Brown, a local businessman in the comb industry, offered the library a room in a building that he owned, on the site of the present day Food Mart.  That same year the salary for the librarian was $1 per week.