Concord Public Library

History:

On August 25, 1855 a City ordinance was passed authorizing a library.   Andrew Capen was chosen librarian in 1856 as a result.  For $50 a year he presided over the library room on the second floor of City Hall.

The library remained in City Hall until 1876, when it was moved to the Board of Trade Building on the corner of Main and School Streets.

In 1888, William and Clara Fowler generously gave the City the Fowler Library Building at the corner of State and School Streets in memory of their parents.   When the State of New Hampshire seized this property in 1938 for the State House Annex, Concord was forced to move the library again.  This time the move was to temporary quarters at St. John's Hall on Pleasant Street, while the present building was being constructed.

In 1940 the new and modern library building on Green Street was completed.   It was constructed of native granite, quarried from Rattlesnake Hill, Concord, NH.

In 1947, after 80 years in temporary quarters, the Penacook Branch was moved into the Penacook Police Station which had been renovated for its use.

In 1966 the new addition to the library building was completed.  The new addition added approximately 10,000 square feet to the total library, providing a small auditorium, a new music room, new and improved reference quarters, a new young people's room, and housing for the bookmobile and workspace for its staff.