Southington Public Library
The Southington Public Library is the public library serving Southington, Connecticut. It is located at 255 Main Street in a modern facility erected in 1974. Its first building, constructed in 1902 and located at 239 Main Street, now houses the Southington Historical Center. That building, a fine local example of Classical Revival architecture, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
Library history
Southington's first library was organized in 1797, and was a private subscription library that had failed by 1847. Other small circulating libraries were privately maintained in the mid-19th century, but a push for a public library did not begin until the 1890s. The town authorized a library in 1896, and it soon amassed a collection of 1,300 books, which were housed in the town hall's courtroom. With the need for a permanent home evident, Lucius V. Walkley, owner of the local Pultz & Walkley Company, offered a challenge grant of $5,000, to be granted if other donors could raise the same amount. This goal was soon met, and the south-facing element of the historic building was completed in 1902 to a design by George Wilson Potter Sr. of New York City. Emma Bradley Yeomans Newell, another entrepreneur, left a bequest upon her death in 1917 for an addition to the library, which was constructed in 1930.In 1974 the present library building was constructed across Meriden Avenue, and the Southington Historical Society took over control of the original library building. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.