McArthur Public Library is a public library in Biddeford, Maine. It opened in October 1863 as a department within Biddeford City Hall, and has been in its current location since 1902. It is one of the oldest tax-supported libraries in New England, and the oldest in the state of Maine. [1]
McArthur Public Library first opened in 1863. It was located in a room in Biddeford City Hall, which burned down in 1894. The Mayor of Biddeford recommended that a private association maintain the facility for the benefit of its patrons. [1] The major benefactor for this association was Robert McArthur. [2] The congregation of the Third Congregational Church (previously known as the Pavilion Church) sold their building to McArthur for conversion into a new library. [3] The new library opened on October 13, 1902, and contained 6,000 books. [2] A new entrance was added to the front of the building in 1995, funded by the local Rotary Club. [3]
Born in 1838, Robert McArthur emigrated to the United States. [1] At the age of 8, McArthur began working in the Textile Mills of New England as well as New Jersey, and worked his way to the top rank of agent of the Laconia and Pepperell Mills in the state of Maine. [4] McArthur was a self-educated man who believed that public libraries and their services should be made available to all. [1] In honor of this belief, McArthur purchased the Pavilion Congregational Church and set up a fund for the maintenance of the building, a tradition that his daughters continued upon their deaths. [1] [4]
Through the support of benefactors, McArthur Public Library provides many services for the people of Biddeford. The facility offers nearly 60,000 printed books, 7,000 e-books, a large audio book collection, as well as DVDs, CDs, and magazines. The library provides free WiFi services, public access computers, and hands-on classes for both youth and adults and is connected to many of Maine's Colleges and the University of Maine. The library hosts programs for infants through teens including story time and summer reading programs. The library also hosts a showing of unique photographs of the city and its surrounding areas. [1] [4] [5]
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; all adult residents of the commonwealth are entitled to borrowing and research privileges, and the library receives state funding. The Boston Public Library contains approximately 24 million volumes, and electronic resources, making it the third-largest public library in the United States behind the federal Library of Congress and the New York Public Library, which is also privately endowed. In fiscal year 2014, the library held more than 10,000 programs, all free to the public, and lent 3.7 million materials.
Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. The population was 21,277 at the 2010 census. Twin city of Saco, Biddeford includes the resort community of Biddeford Pool, Fortunes Rocks and Granite Point. The town is the site of the University of New England and the annual La Kermesse Franco-Americaine Festival. First visited by Europeans in 1616, it is the site of one of the earliest European settlements in the United States.
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Norcross Brothers Contractors and Builders was a prominent nineteenth-century American construction company, especially noted for their work, mostly in stone, for the architectural firms of H.H. Richardson and McKim, Mead & White.
John Calvin Stevens was an American architect who worked in the Shingle Style, in which he was a major innovator, and the Colonial Revival style. He designed more than 1,000 buildings in the state of Maine.
The Congregational Library & Archives is an independent special collections library and archives. It is located on the second floor of the Congregational House at 14 Beacon Street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The Library was founded in 1853 by a gathering of Congregational ministers and has since evolved into a professional library and archives that holds more than 250,000 items, predominantly focused on 18th to 21st century American Congregational history. The Library's reading room is free and open to the public for research but the Library's stacks are closed and book borrowing privileges are extended exclusively to members.
The Berlin-Peck Memorial Library is a public library in Berlin, Connecticut. The original library was founded in 1829. The library was relocated to a new facility at 234 Kensington Road in 1989. The library serves a population of 20,137. The total collection consists of 107,364 items. Special collections include town histories of Berlin, East Berlin and Kensington in the David and Ann Borthwick Local History Room.
Halton Hills Public Library (HHPL) is the public library system for the Town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada. Through its two branches and its website, www.hhpl.on.ca, the Halton Hills Public Library provides a range of services for Halton Hills residents. There are approximately 17,000 active cardholders, most residing in the communities of Georgetown, Acton, Limehouse, Glen Williams, Speyside, Norval, and surrounding areas.
Biddeford City Theater is a restored Victorian opera house at 205 Main Street in Biddeford, Maine, United States. City Theater produces and hosts theater, dance and music performances year-round and aims to, “foster an appreciation for the performing arts by using creative avenues to increase community involvement.”
Ramsdell Public Library is one of two public library buildings of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It is located at 1087 Main Street in the Housatonic village, in a two-story Beaux Arts building erected c. 1908. The building was a gift to the town by T. Ellis Ramsdell, fulfilling a bequest by his father Theodore, owner of the Monument Mills. It was designed by Boston architects McLean & Wright, with a sympathetic rear addition designed by the Pittsfield firm of Harding & Seaver. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
Jubilee Library is the largest public library serving the English city of Brighton and Hove. The Jubilee Library forms the centrepiece of the Jubilee Square development in central Brighton, a £50 million scheme to regenerate a 40-year-old brownfield site. Opened in 2005 by the Princess Royal and subsequently visited by Queen Elizabeth II, the library has won numerous architectural design awards and has been described as "a triumph", "the most important public building constructed in Brighton since the Royal Pavilion" and "the superhero [that] saved the city". In terms of visitor numbers and loans, the library is one of the busiest in England.
The Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library (EVPL) is a public library system serving Evansville and Vanderburgh County in Indiana, USA. The EVPL also supplements the services provided by the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation and has the authority to approve the tax levy of the independently run and operated Willard Library.
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