Bolton Public Library - Bolton, MA - Massachusetts Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

In Bolton, along Mass. Route 117, is the Bolton Public Library, with a historical sign about the building.

The building and sign are on the south side of the road, west of the Bolton Town Hall and Pond Park. The sign is located east of the library and is close to a milestone.

The sign has the following text:

"Bolton Public Library

The laying of the corner-stone of the Bolton Public Library on Wednesday, the seventeenth day of June, Nineteen Hundred and Three.

Once planted as an apple orchard and earlier as a mulberry/silk farm, this land was bought by the Bolton Library Committee in 1902 for $701. After the completion of the building in 1904, the enterprising Town collected money from apple sales for many years until the trees no longer produced or died. In 1904 the Town collected $12.

A $10,000 gift from the estate of a second generation Bolton native, Captain Joseph Whitney, built this edifice of native Bolton stone. The Captain was portrayed by his daughter, Anna E. Whitney, as having lived an 'uneventful life' and as 'a good farmer, a good man and a good citizen". This charming library is representative of a movement that began in the early 19th century with library structures donated both by grateful citizens and wealthy philanthropists. This building represents the culmination of efforts for a library that began in 1791 in the Holman Tavern (removed) across the street and consolidated the collections of the Social Library, the Town Library of 1859, the Ladies Social Library, the Historical Association and the Agricultural Association.

In 1903 Bolton was still a small Town with a population of less than 700. At the June 17, 1903 dedication of the laying of the library cornerstone, Anna described her father's beloved Bolton: 'My father loved this dear old Town of Bolton, its quiet restfulness, the rocks, the hills and valleys which everywhere abound within its limits...' Appropriately, as a symbol of Bolton's agricultural past and the flourishing of agricultural science, a package of 'Egyptian Beet Seeds' from the U.S. Department of Agriculture was placed in the cornerstone.

Agency Responsible for Placement: Unknown Agency Responsible for Placement (if not in list above): Bolton Conservation Trust Year Placed: 1994 County: Worcester City/Town Name: Bolton Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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