Alexandria's library, town's only brick building, added to state historic registry

ALEXANDRIA — Timothy Haynes was the first of four children born to farmers Rebecca and David in 1808. He became a significant part of the growth of modern medicine in New Hampshire, studying in Hanover and then Philadelphia, before settling in Concord, where he practiced medicine and operated an anatomical museum used to educate the doctors he was helping to instruct.

When Haynes died in 1883, he left $1,000 to his hometown of Alexandria, which though it had been incorporated a century earlier, still didn’t have a library. His gift stipulated the town would raise an equal sum. That led to the creation of the town’s first library association, which initially consisted of a collection of 440 books available to the public at the Town Hall.

A decade later — in 1893 — two of Haynes’ brothers donated more money, their campaign was joined by another native of Alexandria, Elias E. Perkins, and construction of the Haynes Library began in fall 1894. The building opened to the public on Dec. 22 of that year.

Such details were included in the account prepared by Andrew Cushing, of the NH Preservation Alliance, for the library’s successful inclusion in the state’s Registry of Historic Places. The library was included in the 2023 class of inductees shared earlier this month.

The application describes a building constructed of mostly brick and granite. It’s a modestly sized building by contemporary standards, with a main room measuring 24 by 30 feet, and an ell covering 10 by 18 feet. The building is of “vernacular, Victorian” design, and is perhaps modeled after the Minot-Sleeper Library in Bristol.

The Haynes Library was something of a new animal when it was built. As Cushing accounts, enabling legislation had been passed in 1849 to allow for publicly funded free libraries, but it wasn’t until the end of that century that they started to appear. Indeed, the Haynes Library was one of the first free-standing library buildings in its region. The NH State Library Association had only been founded in 1889, just four years prior to the Haynes Library's construction.

The library was preceded, locally, by only the Minot-Sleeper Library. New Hampton built a library in 1895, and the towns of Danbury and Grafton, though they had library collections, didn’t construct their own library buildings until 1912 and 1920, Cushing’s report details. He says the library is the only brick building in Alexandria.

Though ahead of its time, the Haynes Library was also at risk of being lost to history. The library closed in 2019, and all trustees resigned. However, the recent induction to the Registry of Historic Places is part of a renaissance for the building. The town has revived interest in the structure, and Cushing expects the town to vote on a measure that would provide public funding for the library’s operation, something that hasn’t occurred since the late 1800s.

“Such a vote would make Haynes Library a true public library,” Cushing wrote.