Freehold Public Library is the free public library of Freehold Borough, New Jersey. It is located at 28½ East Main Street.[1]
Serving a population of 11,797 residents and with a collection of approximately 26,000 volumes the library has a yearly circulation of circa 28,000 items.[2] This municipal library is not a member of the Monmouth County Library system. The building is one of the remaining Carnegie-funded libraries in the state and is believed to be the only one with the name Carnegie Library engraved on its facade.[3]
The King's Daughters, a charitable and social service organization of the Baptist Church, decided at the turn of the 20th century that the county seat of Monmouth County should have a library. It opened on January 6, 1900, in the Lloyd Building at the corner of West Main and Throckmorton Street with a collection of 500 volumes, but was destroyed by fire in December 1901.[3]
The building is one of New Jersey's 36 Carnegie libraries, constructed with a grant made March 27, 1903 by industrialist Andrew Carnegie and opened in 1904.[4][5]
Marion Laird, chairwoman of the Library Committee of the King's Daughters, wrote to Carnegie asking for financial support for a new library building. The philanthropist offered $10,000, though records indicated that the donation would eventually be $11,000. Two conditions were stipulated: that the town should provide a suitable site. and that it provide support to the library not less than $1,000 per year.[3]
At the annual election of Freehold Township on March 10, 1903, residents voted to support the levy of a library tax. It was the second town in New Jersey to get a Carnegie grant for a new library, the first being that for the East Orange Public Library in 1900.[3] The borough incorporated 1919 following a referendum to separate from Freehold Township.[3]
The King's Daughters raised $2,000 through donations to buy the lot (known as 29½ East Main Street even then) from the widow Doty. In the summer of 1903 Frederick A. Brower contracted to construct the new library, which cost of $8,874 and opened the following year.[3]
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