In 1841 Gardner’s library was established but had no permanent home. The historic Levi Heywood Memorial Library Building, designed by Fuller & Delano architects of Worcester, Massachusetts was completed in 1886. One of the city’s most architecturally distinguished buildings, and a good example of Richardsonian Romanesque design, it was given in honor of Levi Heywood, a prominent figure in the city’s economically important chair manufacturing industry and grandson of one of its founders. Used as a library until 1978, it now houses The Gardner Museum. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

In 1978 the library moved to what was intended to be a temporary location at City Hall. Needing to find a more suitable space after nearly twenty years there, a successful Building for the Future campaign garnered generous donations, including from Levi Heywood’s children, state and federal government grants, and a land donation from the City of Gardner, that made a new building a possibility. The new library at 55 West Lynde Street opened to the public in October 2004.

Photo courtesy of The Gardner News