CONCORD, NH – The town of Boscawen is seeking a buyer for its former library building after years of struggling to preserve it for town use.
The town and a dedicated committee of volunteers worked for more than a decade to restore the building for a future community use until the town and Town Meeting voters in 2023 agreed to sell it.
The sale would include a covenant that the building can not be demolished. Proceeds from the sale would go to Boscawen Public Library to reduce the amount the town has to raise yearly to operate it, the select board agreed.
The building isn’t officially listed for sale. After a potential $235,000 sale fell through, the town’s select board on Sept. 11 agreed to ask NH Preservation to reach out to its contacts before it officially goes to market, with the hope that a historic preservation advocate would be interested in the property. NH Preservation’s release this week asks that anyone interested contact Town Manager Katie Phelps.
The 111-year-old brick Colonial Revival building at 248 King St., near the fork of Routes 3 and 4, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was on the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance Seven to Save list in 2013.
The lot was donated by Frank Lawrence Gerrish, and John and Charlotte Kimball and Benjamin Ames Kimball donated the money to build the library. The building was designed by Boston architect Guy Lowell, who designed the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, as well as many other academic and civic buildings and landscapes in the early 1900s.
It was dedicated Aug. 20, 1913, and, in 1916, the national publication American Architect featured it in an article about Lowell.
The building served as the town’s library and archives for historic papers for nearly a century, until 2006, when the library moved into the municipal complex at 116 Main St. At the time, it was too small for the library’s needs, bathrooms and parking weren’t adequate, it had to be upgraded for accessibility and the aging building needed some work.
The building is serviced by public water and has a private septic system. The interior has an open floor plan, dark wood paneling, and an engraved and inscribed wooden mantel over the main fireplace. The trailhead for the recreational Northern Rail Trail, which runs from Boscawen to Lebanon, is nearby and the trail runs behind the property.
Since the building was originally given to the town for a charitable use, the town had to get court approval that the use could no longer be maintained before it could be put up for sale. The petition was approved last year.
Between the time it closed and the decision was made to sell it, a town committee of volunteers worked to renovate and find a use for the building. Meanwhile, the town kept the building heated. The effort to save the building resulted in repairs to the roof, chimneys and exterior trim, as well as improved drainage.
The Boscawen 1913 Public Library Restoration Project maintained a robust Facebook page, and the committee held birthday parties and Valentine’s Day events for the building, as well as other fundraising efforts. In the end, though, the select board and town residents agreed that, with other challenges facing the town, selling the beloved building was the best option.