Lynnfield COA/ Senior Center Information

The mission of the Lynnfield Public Library is to facilitate townspeople of all ages in the meeting of their personal, professional, informational, educational, recreational and cultural needs by providing both current technological and traditional means of access to materials, programs, and services. The origin of the first public library in Lynnfield has a similar story to others in New England towns: it began as a social organization with shareholders and went through various iterations until 1890 when the Commonwealth offered $100 to every town that would appropriate an equivalent amount to establishing a free public library. Lynnfield voted at town meeting to elect a Board of Trustees and to appropriate the funds to acquire the gift. The Lynnfield Public Library opened on July 22, 1892 with a collection of 554 books in a room in the then new Town Hall. At age eighteen, Miss Elizabeth W. Green became the first Head Librarian. In 1904 the library moved to its present location on Summer Street opposite the Common in what was the former Center School House dating from 1856. It is now the Childrens Room in the present library. In 1910 a branch library was established in the private home of Mrs. Cora Pike in South Lynnfieldwith only a wooded road connecting the two ends of town. A branch library was built in 1923 on the corner of Salem and Summer Streets. The following year (1924) the circulation at the branch exceeded that of the main library. The decade from 1950 to 1960 saw some of the biggest changes in Lynnfield as the country experienced a post World War II growth in population and building. The population increased from 3,925 in 1950 to 8,500 in 1960 and the librarys book collection expanded to 10,000. A Friends of the Lynnfield Library organization was begun that same year and has grown to a membership of 181 in 2017. An approximate 700 square feet addition in 1959 did little to alleviate the serious space problem in the main library. The addition that brought the library to its present size with its ...