It’s starting to feel a lot like Christmas and the holidays in my home, and I hope in yours, too, no matter how you celebrate the season. With the recent snowfall and after the driveway is cleared I love nothing better than curling up in a comfy chair and enjoying some quiet reading time. That’s a big part of the reason I am so grateful to the staff of the Somersworth Public Library on Main Street.
I get recommendations from people all the time on books that might interest me and they are always able to find the book, thanks in part to the interlibrary exchange program. What you might not know is Somersworth residents have been blessed with a library since 1842.
Yes, you read that date right. It was back in January 1842, which, in case you are wondering, was way before my time. The stockholders and main principles of the Great Falls Manufacturing Company met and one proposal was to establish a library that would be available to all for the sum of 50 cents per year per member. This was something of a controversial move because it allowed not only the male workers in the textile mills access to the reading materials but also women, who, at the time, were the main workforce employed by the company. Somersworth’s village library predates by about four years the one located in Lowell, Massachusetts, which was home to a much bigger textile mill complex.
The Somersworth Village library would be located in the Counting House on Main Street and was in full operation by April 1842. It would continue to function as the main way for mill workers and residents to obtain books and reading materials for years, and in 1899 the city took it over. At that time, the considerable contents of the library would be transferred to the Chandler building, which stood at the corners of what is now Washington and Constitutional Way, where the American Legion stands today.
In 1966, as part of the Urban Renewal campaign that swept the USA, the Chandler building was demolished and the current library on Main Street was completed. The current library was officially opened in 1969. The building architects were Koehler and Issak, who incidentally also designed the building next door that once held both the Somersworth National Bank and later the Bank of America. Nowadays it’s the home of the Great Outdoors Pediatric Dental Practice. Both buildings are constructed from local Kane-Gonic brick, which ties the two building together with a cohesive feel.
At the time of its construction, the library also housed the city emergency shelter in what is now the children’s rooms and basement of the building. I’ve often wondered where the idea of the metal birds that hang on the exterior library walls came from. According to a copy of Granite State Architect, they are the artwork of sculptor Bert Kilgore and are meant to express the freedom of study. You learn something new every day!
If you visit the library over the next week or so, you will be able to view this year’s ice sculpture, which was sponsored by the Berwick/Somersworth Christmas Parade Committee. A great photo opportunity, but it won’t be there forever, so get them while you can. Also don’t forget to pick up that essential Christmas reading material while you are there. With no parade this year the committee got creative and created 10 miles of Christmas fun with competitions for all and distanced fun for everyone. The competitions end Dec. 21, and I’ll give you a full report of winners in next week’s column.
Shopping local
I hope everyone has been out and shopped local this year because our small businesses are really suffering through the pandemic. These business owners, as I’ve mentioned before, are our friends, neighbors and often family. So please spare a thought for them before you make that last trip to the big box store and if you can buy small and local please try to do so.
It’s not only the small business owners that are suffering thanks to this pandemic. Many of our neighbors, family and friends may be suffering from the effects that forced isolation can bring. This is the perfect time to pick up the phone and call that friend, family member or neighbor and simply say hi. It might be the one gift that makes all the difference to that person and costs nothing but time.
On that note, I will end this week but before I do I want to wish each and everyone, no matter how you celebrate this time of year, a happy and safe Christmas season. So, until next week please wear a mask, stay safe and be kind to one another.
This article first appeared in Fosters Daily Democrat on December 22nd, 2021.