Somerset Public Library

SOMERSET, MA.

In the late 1880s, several individuals were instrumental in bringing a public library collection to the town of Somerset. Mr. Alfred Hood, Mr. D. Edgar Simmons, and Dr. F. A. Morrill was the first Somerset resident to take up a collection of books, which was housed in Capt. Nathan S. Davis’s ice cream parlor until 1891. When the collection outgrew its ice cream parlor home, it was moved to a storefront on Main Street, where it was cataloged by Miss Hannah Robinson and kept in the care of the W.C.T.U. (Women’s Christian Temperance Union). Unfortunately, the collection was too small to support an active circulation and the library lapsed for about a year before Mrs. Rebecca Rounds and Mrs. F. A. Morrill solicited funds to increase the collection and reopen the library. The Somerset Public Library was established as a State Free Public Library in 1897, and management of the library was taken over by the town. By fulfilling the requirements of a State Free Public Library, the town secured $100 of books from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.