Hours of operation:
Monday -Closed
Tuesday-Thursday: 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Friday: 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Sunday-Closed
The contents of this account come directly from a small booklet:
Gordon-Nash Library, New Hampton, NH published in 1912. Gordon-Nash Library came to New Hampton through the generosity of the late Stephen Gordon Nash of Boston. The library first o
pened to the public in 1896 with Rev. Bickford serving as librarian. It was formally opened to the public, with interesting and appropriate ceremonies, June 25th, 1906. A volume entitled “New Hampton,” published shortly after that event, contains the dedicatory addresses, a poem by Mrs. Nash, and much valuable information concerning the inception and the carrying out of the far-reaching plans of the donor. The records of the corporation, also, preserve important historical matter, as well as facts of much interest concerning the later development of the library. Judge Nash seems long to have had this benefaction in mind. He was a native of this town and a graduate of the Institution. For one year he taught the classics in the school. He greatly loved this community and was, himself, respected by all. The library, therefore, which his forethought has placed in our midst is as welcome and deserved a monument to his memory as it is to that of his father and mother for whom he named it. The will of Judge Nash expressed this purpose: “To establish a public library and reading-room in Smith’s Village, New Hampton, N.H., my native place, for the free use of the people of said town, whether residents, students, or sojourners.” He directed, also, that there should be erected “A building of agreeable architecture with ventilated walls.”
These plans have been faithfully carried out. The library, as it stands, was designed by James E. Fuller, architect, of Worcester, Massachusetts. The contractors and builders were G. Cook and Sons, of Laconia. Soley at Mrs. Nash’s request, the building was faced with beautiful Perth Amboy brick, instead of with the cheaper and more common red variety; “For, “ she humorously said, “I don’t want the library to look like an old schoolhouse.” The spacious and convenient lot upon which the structure has been placed was selected and paid for by Judge Nash, himself, several years before his death. In 1887, an appropriate charter was obtained for the Gordon Nash Library by Judge Nash, who, at once, named five corporators: himself, Edwin C. Lewis, Henry P. Rolfe, Samuel G. Davis, and his wife, Mary Upton Nash. Very fittingly, the founder was elected President and Edwin C. Lewis, Clerk. In his will, furthermore, which was drawn but a few months after the act of incorporation, he gave to the library, in distinct terms, the sum of eighteen thousand dollars, besides making it his principal residual legatee. May first, 1894, Judge Nash passed away. Upon the death of his wife, Mary Upton Nash, December twenty first, 1901, the total bequest - lot building, equipment, and endowment - amounted to the princely sum of fifty thousand dollars. Besides this, there were donated seven or eight thousand volumes of selected literature, the valuable, imported, hand-carved case which now adorns the reading room, bric-a-brac and pictures, - all of which had been accumulated at the family home in Lynnfield, Massachusetts.
