Hills Memorial Library

Infobox nrhp
name =Hills Memorial Library
nrhp_type =

---

caption = Hills Memorial Library in June 2007
location = Hudson, New Hampshire
lat_degrees = 42.7651
lat_minutes =
lat_seconds =
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 71.4382
long_minutes =
long_seconds =
long_direction = W
area =
built =
architect = Ripley, Hubert G.
architecture = Tudor revival
added = June 7 1984
refnum = 84002812
governing_body = Town of Hudson

Hills Memorial Library is the current public library of Hudson, New Hampshire in the United States. It was erected in memory of Ida Virginia Hills by her husband, Dr. Alfred Hills, and her mother, Mary Field Creutzborg. The land had been previously donated by Kimball Webster for the express purpose of building a public library. The new building was constructed over the winter of 1908-09 and opened to the public on June 12 1909. The building itself was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 7 1984.

History

. Kimball Webster, Henry O. Smith and Oswald P. Baker were appointed trustees soon after. Later that same year, the town received a bequest from Dr. Adoniram Greeley, whose will provided five hundred volumes for a free library in the town of Hudson to be selected from his personal library of 3000 volumes. The cooperation of his heirs eventually raised the total number acquired from this bequest to 1889 volumes. The public library was named the Greeley Public Library in the family's honor.cite book
last = Webster
first = Kimball
title = History of Hudson, N.H.
publisher = Granite State Publishing Co. Manchester, N.H.
date = 1913
pages = pp. 462-472]

The library, first established in a private home, was soon moved to a location above Baker's Bros store. On September 17 1904, Kimball Webster, town historian, Selectman and Library Trustee, donated land in the center of town with the requirement that it eventually hold a free standing public library building. A few years later, when Ida Virginia Hills died unexpectedly on May 4 1908, aged 51, her husband and mother decided to provide the funds to build a library in her memory. The town unanimously accepted the gift on September 3 1908 and ground was broken the next month.

Construction costs totaled approximately $14,000 over 7 months as the two-story, 70'x50' stone building was completed. In the end, the building contained a total of convert|2500|sqft|m2|-1 of usable space divided between the main library floor, a small loft above, and a community meeting room in the basement. The new building, called Hills Memorial Library, was dedicated on the 22nd anniversary of the Hills' marriage, June 11 1909, and opened to the public on June 12 1909.

During its first year of operation, under the direction of Librarian Eliza Leslie, 830 residents (out of 1344) signed up for library cards, and there was a total circulation of 5015 items. The collection at the end of the year was 4153 items, 600 of which were donated by Dr. Hills.

The basement meeting room was used by the town for many years for a variety of purposes. The Girl Scouts, the Hudson Community Improvement Club and the Camera Club were among those community groups which met in the space. It was also used temporarily as a public school classroom while an addition was being added to the nearby H.O. Smith Elementary school.cite book
last = The Hudson History Committee
title = Town in Transition: Hudson, New Hampshire 1673/1977
publisher = Phoenix Publishing, Canaan, N.H.
date = 1977
pages = pp. 149-152
isbn = 0-914016-45-8]

However, the Hudson population and library circulation continued to grow apace through the first half of the 20th century. To meet a need for more space and children's materials, in 1965 the basement was transformed through the efforts of town organizations and the trustees into a dedicated children's room. This was opened to the public on January 18 1966. The loft, known as the alcove, was also renovated a few years later, with work completed in 1975.

Another addition to library services came in 1977, when the Hudson Junior Woman's Club, the Fire Department, Boyer's Auto Body and the Alvirne High School Industrial Arts department renovated a surplus army vehicle into a bookmobile. Bookmobile service commenced in that same year and continued until 2005 when the second bookmobile was retired due to a need for extensive repairs.

Current

The library currently has a patron base of about 11,000 and an annual circulation of over 123,000. The collection has grown to include more than 60,000 items, including books, magazines, audiobooks and movies. [cite web
title =Annual Report 2006
publisher =Hills Memorial Library
date =2007-02-12
url =http://www.hillsml.lib.nh.us/archives/Annual%20Report%202006.pdf
accessdate =2007-06-26 ] Additional library space has been created via the acquisition of two trailers which are stationed in the library parking lot, and two residential houses which are used for storage and additional programming space.

Several permanent expansion plans have been presented to the town over the past thirty years, both to add more space to the current building or to relocate entirely with a new building. None have achieved the needed number of votes to pass.

References

External links

* [http://www.hillsml.lib.nh.us/ Hills Memorial Library website]