Our History

For well over a hundred years, the Jacob Sears Memorial Library has been far more than a special place for housing and lending literary material. It has served as a community gathering place, a voting hall, and a venue for plays, lectures, musical performances, minstrel shows, classes in art and music, and special exhibitions, as well as neighborhood meetings and events. 

The Library’s dedication ceremony in 1896 featured not only the customary speeches and readings, but also a 12-piece orchestra and a vocal soloist. Ever since that July day, the Library has served the educational and cultural mission articulated by its benefactor Jacob Sears (1823-1871).