The Nichols Library has been a treasured part of the Center Harbor landscape for over a century!
The Nichols Library celebrated 100 years of continual service on June 26th, 2010. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of Center Harbor’s Village Historic District.
To commemorate the event, Center Harbor Librarian Jon Kinnaman wrote “A Viable Service“, a centennial history of the James E. Nichols Memorial Library. It’s quite entertaining!
The Library building was given to Center Harbor by James Edwin Nichols (1845-1914). Born in Meredith, NH, he had successful business ventures in Boston and New York. In 1909, Nichols offered to build and endow a library for Center Harbor as a memorial to his parents. The holdings of the Center Harbor Library Association (1889), a private collection, became the core of the new Nichols Library. The library was to be ‘free and open to all,’ which it remains to this day.
The Nichols Memorial Library has been judged “one of the finest classical library buildings in the state.” It was designed by Charles Brigham and built by Laconia contractor T. J. Guay. The Library building is “strikingly well preserved.” Visitors enter the Library through a vestibule into a large double reading room. The ceiling over the stacks forms a graceful barrel vault. The two fireplaces contain interesting tile work. “The Pines,” an eight-tile frieze, was designed by Addison LeBoutillier for the Grueby Faience Company of Boston (ca. 1906). The whimsical Mother Goose tiles were produced by the American Encaustic Company of Zanesville, Ohio. The animal heads in the main room were hunted by Mr. Nichols. The Mosler safe, originally for use by the Selectmen, now contains historic records of the Library. The Seth Thomas pendulum clock dates from 1876 and is wound by hand weekly. The library is known as Center Harbor’s Little Gem and we invite all to visit, whether you are visiting for the first time, or are a “regular”. Hope to see you soon!
A printed catalog in 1911 listed a collection of 2,400 items on hand. A small portion of the original collection is still held by the Library today.