City Hall and Harris Institute Library - Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 42° 00.161 W 071° 30.833
19T E 291807 N 4653131
Historic city hall building in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
Waymark Code: WM50MN
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 10/21/2008
Views: 8
City Hall and Harris Institute Library, 157 Main St., a four-story granite
building, is in the center of the business district. It was originally founded
(1856) as the Harris Institute by Edward Harris, a prominent woolen manufacturer
of the 19th century. Abraham Lincoln spoke here during his first Presidential
campaign. The building was taken over by the city to serve as an administrative
center. It houses the city's only public library, which has about 37,000 books,
1600 being in French. Yearly circulation varies between 190,000 and 200,000. The
library has substantially complete files of the Woonsocket Weekly and Daily
Patriot. Portraits of the founder, Edward Harris, and of an early trustee,
Samuel Foss, are in the main reading-room. - Rhode Island: A Guide to the Smallest State,
1937, Woonsocket section, pg. 315
The building continues to serve as the Woonsocket City Hall however the
library has relocated from the building. The building now is wholly the
City Hall and is well maintained. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.