G.E.P. Dodge Library - Bennington, NH
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 43° 00.064 W 071° 55.392
19T E 261731 N 4765080
Quick Description: Dating from 1860 with a collection of 235 books, George Edward Payson Dodge donated the money in 1906 for the present library which serves the small village of Bennington, New Hampshire.
Location: New Hampshire, United States
Date Posted: 5/7/2007 7:33:43 PM
Waymark Code: WM1H06
Views: 74
Long Description:G.E.P. DODGE LIBRARY HISTORY
In 1860 a group of resident women founded the Bennington
Circulatory Library and for 20 years acquired and maintained a
collection of 235 books that were held in various private homes. In
March 1880 the town voted to establish the Bennington Town Library
and from 1880 until 1906 the library operated from what is now the
restroom at the Bennington Town Hall.
In 1906 George Edward Payson Dodge, at the request of his aunt,
presented the town with $8,000 to build a library on Main Street
that to this day serves as the town library. The library was
dedicated on August 1, 1906 and has since been known as the G.E.P.
Dodge Library.
George Edward Payson Dodge was born in Bennington in 1839, the
son of George Dodge. As a child he moved to Lancaster,
Massachusetts, then to Boston, Massachusetts and finally to Chicago
where he and two others established the Phelps Dodge & Palmer
wholesale boot and shoe company. The library's bronze doors were
given to the library in memory of Mr. Dodge by his partner Mr.
Phelps.
BENNINGTON HISTORY
Bennington is located in the southwest portion of New Hampshire
along the Contoocook River, in the shadow of Crotched Mountain, at
660 feet above sea level in Hillsborough County, in the Monadnock
region. The main routes of access serving Bennington are NH State
routes 31, 47 and 202.
Bennington was formed in 1842 from a mill area called Society
Land that was shared by the towns of Hancock, Greenfield and
Francestown. Bennington has been a mill town before and since its
incorporation. The operating mill in Bennington today is the
Monadnock Paper Mill.
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