Freehold Public Library is the free

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 ...

Freehold Borough, New Jersey Freehold is a borough in and the county seat of Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey., National Association of Counties. Accessed January 21, 2013. Known for its Victorian era homes and extensive colonial history, the borough is l ...

. It is located at 28½ East Main Street. Serving a population of 11,797 residents and with a collection of approximately 26,000 volumes the library has a yearly circulation of circa 28,000 items. This municipal library is not a member of the Monmouth County Library system. The building is one of the remaining Carnegie-funded libraries in the state and is believed to be the only one with the name Carnegie Library engraved on its facade.

Founding

The King's Daughters, a charitable and social service organization of the Baptist Church, decided at the turn of the 20th century that the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Monmouth County should have a library. It opened on January 6, 1900, in the Lloyd Building at the corner of West Main and Throckmorton Street with a collection of 500 volumes, but was destroyed by fire in December 1901.

Carnegie library

The building is one of New Jersey's 36 Carnegie libraries, constructed with a grant made March 27, 1903 by industrialist

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

and opened in 1904.* Marion Laird, chairwoman of the Library Committee of the King's Daughters, wrote to Carnegie asking for financial support for a new library building. The philanthropist offered $10,000, though records indicated that the donation would eventually be $11,000. Two conditions were stipulated: that the town should provide a suitable site. and that it provide support to the library not less than $1,000 per year. At the annual election of Freehold Township on March 10, 1903, residents voted to support the levy of a library tax. It was the second town in New Jersey to get a Carnegie grant for a new library, the first being that for the

East Orange Public Library The East Orange Public Library is the free public library of East Orange East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's popul ...

in 1900. The borough incorporated 1919 following a referendum to separate from Freehold Township. The King's Daughters raised $2,000 through donations to buy the lot (known as 29½ East Main Street even then) from the widow Doty. In the summer of 1903 Frederick A. Brower contracted to construct the new library, which cost of $8,874 and opened the following year.

References

External links

Freehold Public Library

Wikimapia

Waymarking
{{Freehold, New Jersey 1916 establishments in New Jersey Beaux-Arts architecture in New Jersey Buildings and structures in Monmouth County, New Jersey Carnegie libraries in New Jersey Neoclassical architecture in New Jersey Education in Monmouth County, New Jersey Freehold Borough, New Jersey Library buildings completed in 1916

Founding

Carnegie library

See also

References

External links