Established in 1867, the Nashua Public Library was located on the second floor of the County Records Building with collections donated by The Union Athenaeum, a private reading club formed in 1851, and the holdings from the Nashua Manufacturing Company’s library.

In March 1901, a donation from Mary A. and Mary E. Hunt, enabled construction of a new library building by architect Ralph Adams Cram in the Gothic Revival style. In 1903, the Hunt Memorial Library was opened and named in memory of John M. Hunt.

The library moved to its present location, a 57,000-square-foot building at 2 Court Street designed by architect John Carter, in 1971. It was supported by a gift from Eliot A. Carter, a local industrialist.

In 1995 the library expanded into previously unfinished space and opened a Music/Art/Media Wing. In 2017 that space was renovated, creating seven community meeting rooms, a 75-seat theater, and renamed the Chandler Memorial Wing.

Photo courtesy of The Nashua Telegraph