America's First Public Library Established in 1833 inside a Pharmacy

The first public library, 📚🏛️ which opened in 1833 to all American citizens regardless of income, kept books in a pharmacy, a general store, and a post office. No worries, it was easy to figure out what location to go: each family in the town of Peterborough, New Hampshire, received a complete catalog of available books by mail when the library opened to the public.

Funding for the library came from taxation, making it accessible to all—a significant departure from Benjamin Franklin's library founded in 1731. Franklin's Library Company of Philadelphia was the first successful lending library in America, but access to the books was restricted to members who donated money. The general public had to wait about 100 years to receive services without charge. 💰

Teachers played a key role in establishing the first public library. When a city committee decided to start a library service, they invited one person from each school district to lead the project. Their names were Dr. Abiel Abbot, Timothy Fox, and John H. Steele. 🍎📖

By 1890, the library had grown to over 6,000 books, prompting the need to move out of a pharmacy and a general store and construct 👷 its own building. In 1891, two former residents of Peterborough, Nancy Smith Foster, and her cousin William H. Smith, generously donated $10,000 and $5,000, respectively, for the construction of the library's own building, marking a celebratory milestone in American public infrastructure.