West Stockbridge Public Library

WEST STOCKBRIDGE, MA.

C. W. Kniffin presented the use of a room over his store to the town and fitted it up as a library. The library opened to the public on June 20, 1891. Mrs. Julian Williams performed the duties of a librarian. She received no compensation for that year. A large portion of the volumes was non-fiction. Miss Grace Wheeler and other teachers gave an entertainment at the Town Hall and raised money to purchase 71 fiction volumes.

The library outgrew the room in the Kniffin block and moved to the first floor of the Town Hall in 1904. The Town Hall building is a 2 1/2 story Greek revival structure, built-in 1854. The building originally housed the Town Hall, Miner’s Savings Bank, and Spaulding Law Office. In 1904 the library moved into the space vacated by the bank. In fall 2007 the library moved from the Old Town Hall to the newly renovated Town Offices Building, the former West Stockbridge Village School. The Old Town Hall on Main Street now houses the West Stockbridge Historical Society.