Vinalhaven Public Library

From an old Library history:

The Vinalhaven Public Library came into being in 1887, the idea having been suggested by Gov. J.R. Bodwell who was then President of the Bodwell Granite Company. Mr. Bodwell had made the statement that if the citizens would "take hold of the matter, "the Bodwell Granite Company would furnish a room suitable for the purpose. The granite workers pledged about $118.00 to start. At Town Meeting of 1888 the town voted to establish a public library and raised more than $300.00 for its support. In 1890, the ladies of the Vinalhaven Circulating Library voted to discontinue and gave the Public Library their collection of 800 or more volumes.

With the opening of Memorial Hall in 1895, the Library was installed in one of its lower rooms. At Town Meeting of 1906, a committee was appointed to contact steel magnate Andrew J. Carnegie. His gift of $5200.00 enabled the construction of the Library building. As described in the Courier-Gazette of August 20, 1907, "The material used is granite. The body of the walls being of paving blocks made from Jonesboro red granite and the trimmings from Vinalhaven light granite..." The Library remains today as one of the few structures on the Island to be made of granite.

In the early 1990's the Library became computerized - a monumental task accomplished by then Librarian Angeline Olson, her limited staff and many diligent volunteers entered the library collection into the cataloging/circulation system. At that time there was one public access and one library business computer. Now, via the generousity of The Friends of the Library , we have five public access and four library business computers.