Kellogg-Hubbard Library - Montpelier, VT
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 44° 15.673 W 072° 34.434
18T E 693656 N 4903748
Dating from 1894,his historic Italinate style library building is located a few blocks from the State Capitol in Montpelier, Vermont.
Waymark Code: WM2CH8
Location: Vermont, United States
Date Posted: 10/11/2007
Views: 60
History of the Library
Montpelier had several libraries in the 100 years before the Kellogg-Hubbard opened. In 1794 there was a circulating library that consisted of 200 volumes on such subjects as history, biography, travel and adventure, but there were no books of fiction or religion.
The Village Library Society, founded in 1814, existed until 1850 when it turned its books over to the Young Men's Library Association, a group that lasted only a brief time. Other short-lived literary attempts included the Agricultural Library about 1860, and two reading rooms between 1860 and 1880 that provided newspapers and popular magazines free to the public.
In 1882, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union sponsored a fund drive to raise $5,000 in subscriptions for a public library. In 1884, the women were successful and on March 16, 1885, the Montpelier Public Library Association was established. Although only stockholders who provided the funding could use the library at first, by 1895, the 5,000-volume collection was entirely free to the public. The Young Men's Christian Association rented space for the library in the Vermont Mutual Fire Insurance Company building.
Meanwhile, in 1889, the Kellogg-Hubbard Library saga began when Martin M. Kellogg, a New York City real estate magnate born in Barre, died of a heart attack; three months later his widow, the former Fanny M. Hubbard, a Montpelier native, also died and left a $300,000 estate. The couple had agreed that their money should be given to the city to construct ornate entrance gates for the Green Mount Cemetery and to build a public library.
But Fanny's nephew, John E. Hubbard, contested the will. After witnesses testified at a probate court hearing that they hadn't realized they were signing a will, the judge ruled in Hubbard's favor. Town fathers filed a counter suit and after three years of dispute--with residents taking sides--Hubbard agreed to build the library; ironically, he eventually paid $30,000 more than the amount called for in the will.
Ground breaking took place in 1894 and by the summer of 1895, the $60,000 library was open for business. When the impressive building of rough, light-colored granite from Dummerston was completed, a dedication was held on January 2, 1896. The two-story entrance with its four columns, the ample windows with unusual portholes under the eaves, and the rounded bays give this Classical Revival library a distinctive look.