Fitchburg: Fitchburg Public Library

The residents of Fitchburg approved funding for the first Fitchburg Public Library in 1859, followed by the construction of the Wallace Library and Art Gallery by Rodney Wallace as a gift to the community in 1885. This location was one of the first in the country to provide library services to children in a designated children’s room starting in 1899.

The Library continued to be a trend setter when, in 1950, a free standing Youth Library was built with funds raised by the youth of the city and with a donation from George R. Wallace, Jr., and his wife, Alice G. Wallace. To expand service to a wider area of the community, the Library purchased a bookmobile in 1953. In 1962 the Wallace Library became the first regional library in the Massachusetts Regional Library System. Mr. & Mrs. Wallace donated much of the funding needed to build the new Wallace Library dedicated to them in 1967. Although there is no longer a bookmobile, the library continues to serve the diverse population of Fitchburg with innovative programs and the loan of some unusual items. For more information, visit http://fitchburgpubliclibrary.org