ROBERT J. RESNIK

The Fletcher Free Library, Burlington's public library, is the largest and busiest public library in Vermont, and is home to one of only four library buildings in the state built with money donated by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The story of the changing fortunes of Burlington's Carnegie library building is also the story of much of the library's history.

The Fletcher Free Library has not stayed put; it has been in four different locations (two "permanent" ones and two temporary) in downtown Burlington during the past 141 years.

The Library was founded on July 14, 1873, by Mrs. Mary L. Fletcher and Miss Mary M. Fletcher with a gift of $10,000 (equivalent in modern day dollars to more than $250,000) for the purchase of books, and an additional $10,000 to provide income for the "increase of the Library."

The Fletcher Free was originally located at 146 Church St., a building with a cupola that stood in the northern half of the current footprint of Burlington's City Hall (the original City Hall building was located next door on the corner of Church and Main). By 1901 the Library had outgrown its home next to City Hall, and Mrs. Chester Griswold, a Burlington resident and personal friend of Andrew Carnegie, arranged for a gift of $50,000 to fund the construction of a new library building.

Between the years 1881 and 1971, steel magnate Carnegie created a foundation that granted the princely sum of $41,748,689 to build 1,689 public libraries in 1,419 communities throughout the United States and Europe. The first library funded by Carnegie was in his hometown of Dumferline, Scotland, but the first official "Carnegie" library was built in Fairfield, Iowa.

Carnegie's love of libraries

To explain his generosity and affection for libraries, Carnegie is quoted as saying, "Building a Library outranks any other thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is the never failing spring in the desert."

If a town applying for one of Carnegie's libraries promised to supply a good building site, arranged for the purchase of books, and pledged to take care of the building, in most cases the money would be granted. Only four Carnegie libraries were built in the state of Vermont, and Burlington's was the first one built and by far the largest. Unlike hundreds of Carnegie buildings throughout the United States that have either been demolished or converted to offices, restaurants, or other uses over the past century, the four Carnegie buildings in Burlington, Fair Haven, Rockingham (now a part of Bellows Falls) and Morristown (now a part of Morrisville) are all still serving as their town's public libraries.

Burlington's Carnegie library building was built on the corner of College Street and South Winooski Avenue, a site previously occupied by Burlington's "old Armory." This site was created when the city filled in a natural ravine that used to run from Union Street and down College Street toward Lake Champlain.

Burlington's Carnegie library was designed by local architect Walter R.B. Willcox (1869-1947), who also designed the Burlington Savings Bank building on the corner of College and St. Paul Streets (now Citizen's Bank), H.O. Wheeler School, and UVM's John Dewey Hall. One of the prominent features of Burlington's Carnegie building is a beautiful stained glass window designed by Willcox (and still prominently visible today) that includes an image of the library's original building on Church Street and lists the names of Zadock Thompson (one of Vermont's first historians), Charles Godfrey Saxe ( at the time a well-loved Burlington poet), and Vermont author Rowland Robinson, along with glass panels proclaiming "Art," "Literature," and "Science," subjects represented by these three famous Vermonters.

The Carnegie building served the city well for the next 70 years until the fill underneath the building's foundation began to erode. By 1973, the need for structural repairs caused by the shifting soil of College Street forced the Fletcher Free to move its books out of the Carnegie building, first to City Hall, and then a few months later to the ground floor of Memorial Auditorium.

Future was in doubt

By April 1974 the future of the Carnegie building was in doubt. Hundreds of thousands of dollars would be needed to make the building sound again, and Mayor Gordon Paquette and even the Fletcher Free Library's Board of Commissioners were convinced that the best course of action might be to demolish the Carnegie so that a new building could be erected. Fans of the library, led by Burlington residents Marcella Chapman and Lilian Baker Carlisle, formed a "Committee to Save the Fletcher Free Library Building." A petition was quickly circulated around town, and thanks to the efforts of the Committee the Carnegie building was designated a Burlington historic site in May 1974, and a state historic site the next month. In August 1974, Burlington's Carnegie building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1977, Federal Economic Development Association grant of $234,000 funded the stabilization and external repair of the Carnegie building. Questions of funding further restorations of the building and of adding a possible new addition were not addressed until a "library task force" was appointed and consultants hired to provide overall plans and impetus for the work to proceed.

In January 1978, voters approved a bond of $2.4 million to achieve the goal of a stabilized and expanded library. The renovated Carnegie building, and modern addition to house the adult services, was designed by Boston architects Anderson, Notter, and Finegold. The books were returned to the building in late 1980, and the renovated complex was dedicated on Jan. 4, 1981.

Since the 1980s the Fletcher Free Library has continued to grow, and is still one of Burlington's busiest public buildings. The challenges of maintaining a complex consisting of one 110-year-old historic building and its "new" addition while providing modern library services are some of the topics that will be addressed this fall when the library's new long-range plan is discussed.

Robert J. Resnik is outreach and reference librarian at Fletcher Free Library in Burlington.