The Cherryfield Free Public Library was instituted in 1837 and its founders were: Louisa Upton, Eliza Nickels, Mary Upton, and Elizabeth Kingsley. The library was started and sustained in its infancy by independent subscriptions and public entertainments. The first librarian was Mrs. Mary L. Upton. In 1898, through efforts of the Woman's League, the town took the library in charge thus making it a public institution.
By 1905, the library contained over 1000 choice volumes and Mrs. Mary L. Wakefield was the librarian. It was situated in a room in the Dr. Van Wart building were it stayed until 1947. In 1947, the library moved to the Sunday School room of the Congregational Church. A corporation was formed in 1950 enabling the trustees to buy the so called American Peat building on Main Street. This building is three doors down from our present location. In 1973, the Board of Trustees of Cherryfield Academy offered the Academy building to the town for a central Town Office location. Provisions attached to the offer were that if the town accepted the offer, the Public Library would have a room in the building. The library remained in the Academy building until January 2006 when we moved into our present location at 35 Main Street.
The Union Trust Bank closed their Cherryfield branch December 31, 2004. Early in 2005, the bank approached some of the members of the library board of trustees to enquire if we would be interested in the bank building as a home for the library. They would give us the building if we could show that we could raise enough money to rehab the building and keep it up and running. We started fundraising right away and by June we had raised the money. The rehab started in September 2005. The ribbon cutting ceremony was held on December 10, 2005. We closed the library for the week between Christmas and New Years to move the books to their new home. We reopened on January 3, 2006. We now have nearly 7000 books, audio books, videos, and 2 computers with internet access. The future looks very bright for the Cherryfield Free Public Library.
A more detailed history is available at the Cherryfield Free Public Library for anyone who may be interested in it.
Material for this history was taken from the following:
1905 Cherryfield Town Register ~ compiled by Mitchell & Campbell
A History of the Cherryfield Library ~ compiled by Myra McEntire & E. Virginia Grant
