In the late 1700s, the Reverend Charles Stearns became “Lincoln’s first author of note” when he published several books of poetry and moralistic dramas. Stearns, along with some of his neighbors, joined to form the private subscription “Social Library of the Town of Lincoln.” Eliza Rotch Farrar, wife of noted Harvard College Professor John Farrar, donated her husband’s books to the library after his death in 1853, which, along with a gift from Dr. George Russell, formed a collection of almost 1,000 books.

In 1884, Lincoln resident George Grosvenor Tarbell donated $27,000 for a handsome Victorian red brick building designed by noted Boston architect William G. Preston to serve as a public library for the use of all residents.

Generations of readers have enjoyed the Lincoln Public Library’s fireplaced reading rooms, stained-glass windows, and ceiling light. Subsequent additions were built in the 1950s by Hoover and Hill architects and at the library’s century mark in the late 1980s by Graham Gund. In its centennial year, the library was a founding member of the Minuteman Library Network serving MetroWest Boston.