The Mason Public Library began in 1860 as an idea from the young people of Mason. Originally called the Mason Library Association, it was a cupboard that was kept in private homes. With the advent of the Civil War, the idea was forgotten, and the cupboard lost.

When the New Hampshire legislature passed a resolution in 1893 to help small towns form libraries, Mason pledged “$30 more or less.” A new cupboard was purchased and installed in the Mason Centre Store, behind the post office boxes. The Mason Free Library, as it was then known, soon outgrew its space and moved to the Centre School House, occupying a section of a classroom.

Although very cramped by the turn of the century, warrants proposing a library in 1904 and 1905 failed. In 1916 a lease was signed with the church to occupy the former office space of Dr. Willis Johnson in the parsonage. From 1890 to 1930 the Mason Public Library grew from 200 books to 2,000, and the Dewey Card Index System was implemented.

In the 1940s, when it was realized that fifty percent of the library patrons were children, the library became part of the Mason public school program with schoolchildren coming to the library Friday afternoons to borrow books. In March 1955 the former woodshed at the rear of the building was renovated and devoted to children. The bookmobile from the New Hampshire State Library would come every eight weeks, providing an added selection of books.

A donation in 1984 from New England Apple Products to purchase the Mann House put plans in motion to move the library to its present home. On November 23, 1985, volunteers formed a book-brigade and moved approximately 7,000 books to the new library in the Mann House in exactly 289 minutes from start to finish. More than twenty percent of the town turned out to help.

Today the library remains a central hub of the Mason community. It continues to serve as the Mason Elementary School Library, offering technical services, collections from around the state and a supportive and helpful staff.

Photo courtesy of Mason Public Library