About Us

Edward C. Thayer, donor of the
Thayer Memorial Building

Our History

Uxbridge has a long tradition of library service. The Uxbridge Social and Instructive Library was organized in 1775 as a storefront subscription library. In 1812, the Uxbridge Second Social Library succeeded the original. The Uxbridge Library Association was founded in 1828 and eventually offered its collection to the town with the proviso that a free public library be supported. This collection, along with the Uxbridge Agricultural Library Association’s, comprised the original holdings of the Uxbridge Free Public Library.

The Uxbridge Free Public Library was established in 1874 and opened its doors to the public in 1875. At that time, the Library operated from the F.W. Barnes jewelery store on South Main Street. After five crowded years, the Uxbridge Free Public Library moved to a space in Town Hall, where the library was located for another 14 years.

In 1893, Mr. Edward Carrington Thayer of Keene, New Hampshire, a native of Uxbridge, proposed to build and donate a library to the Town in memory of his parents. His conditions for the maintenance and use of the building were met with unanimous approval. Mr. Thayer’s stipulations form the basis of the Library’s current by-laws. In 1894, a little over a year after the town meeting ratification, the Thayer Memorial Building opened to the public.

For 130 years, the Uxbridge Free Public Library has been housed in the Thayer Memorial Building, located on the historic Uxbridge Town Common.