Acton Memorial Library is a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

at 486 Main Street in

Acton, Massachusetts Acton is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, approximately west-northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston along Massachusetts Route 2 west of Concord, Massachusetts, Concord and about southwest of Lowell ...

. In 1889 William Allan Wilde (1827-1902), a

Sunday school ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...

publisher and philanthropist who was a native of Acton, donated funds to construct the library to memorialize Acton's citizens who served in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The historic

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

library building was constructed in 1890 by the architects

Hartwell and Richardson Hartwell and Richardson was a Boston, Massachusetts architectural firm established in 1881, by Henry Walker Hartwell (1833–1919) and William Cummings Richardson (1854–1935). The firm contributed significantly to the current building stock and ...

of Boston and contractor, Charles H. Dodge. Large additions were constructed in 1967 and 1996. The library is part of the

Minuteman Library Network Founded first as a cooperative, the Minuteman Library Network (MLN) is today a Library consortium, consortium of over 40+ public or academic library, academic libraries. The network consists of an aggregate collection of over sum 6 million items a ...

. It is contributing property in the Acton Centre Historic District.

References

External links

Official website
Public libraries in Massachusetts Libraries in Middlesex County, Massachusetts {{Library-struct-stub