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