Lilly Library Grows and Thrives for More Than 100 Years
Written for the Daily Hampshire Gazette by Michael Reardon

NORTHAMPTON – Alfred T. Lilly was not from Florence, but he made many contributions to the community, including the Lilly Library.

In 1853, Lilly, 40, moved to Florence from Connecticut to become superintendent of the Nonotuck Silk Company, He later became the company’s treasurer and general manger, and was eventually made partner. Twenty years later, Lilly became stockholder and director of the Florence Furniture Company and a founding director and first president of Florence Savings Bank.

Lilly had a deep desire to make significant contributions to his adopted community, and his success in business allowed him to do so.

In 1888, Lilly and nine of his friends formed a Library Association. He donated a piece ofland in the center of town to the Association, and donated $5,000 for books and $12,500 to build the two-story Romanesque-style brick and stone library. The building was designed by CH Jones of Springfield, with Joseph Hebert of Northampton as contractor. Progress on the project was monitored by Library Trustee Henry B. Haven, whose portrait now hangs in the library’s reference room. Construction began in 1889, and the Lilly Library opened on May 7, 1890. 

 
Unfortunately, Lilly died on January 2, 1890, and never experienced the pleasure of seeing the completed project.

The 4,200-square-foot library was designed to hold 10,000 books. A year after its opening Lilly Library already had a collection of 5,341 books, as well as a selection of magazines and newspapers. About 12,500 books were circulated in a typical year in the 1890’s.

The ground floor of the library was originally intended as a lecture hall, became the Lilly Kindergarten. By 1947, the kindergarten had outgrown the space and a variety of school programs followed, ending in the departure of Head Start in 1983.

 In 1909, a two-cents-per-day rental fiction collection was begun to help defray costs, such as building maintenance. Sunday hours were discontinued in 1910, and reinstated in 1913. Also by 1913, circulation had risen to about 17,500.

Mary White Field, known as Molly to her friends, became librarian in 1920, and served in that position longer than any other librarian. Also in 1920, circulation rose to 21,620 books.

During the Depression, circulation increased even further, with 31,059 in 1930 and to the library’s all-time high of 39,072 in 1933.

In 1946, Field turned the library’s former Trustee meeting room into the Children’s Room. She retired in 1963, but remained as assistant. An “Appreciation Day” was held for Field at the Country Club on November 10, 1972, and she retired for good. She died at the age of 102 in April 1986. 

By 1962, circulation had dipped to 7,976. But by 1973, it had rebounded to 12,052. Circulation continued to rise in then next decade and by 1981, it reached 17,500 a year.

In the early 1980’s a new off-street parking lot was constructed. Circulation rose to 21,705 in1984, and the collection of 14,000 books and 40 magazines enabled the Library to become a lender to the area’s Interlibrary system. By June 1986, the Library’s book collection reached 15,000.

In 1990, the Library celebrated its centennial. Plans for the Library to undergo a major renovation and expansion began in 1998 with Director Joyce Neal.  A feasibility study for the project was completed in 2000 and then-Director Mark Kille began to compile the necessary paperwork needed for the lengthy process of applying for a state grant. When  he resigned in 2003, Martine Hargreaves, from New Bedford, was hired as the new director of Lilly Library. 

In January 2004, the Library Association was notified by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners that it had approved a $1.1 million grant for the renovation and expansion project.

Construction on the project began in July 2005 and the newly renovated library opened in September of this year.

Lilly Staff and Trustees
Grand Re-Opening Pictures