Today in 1833, the first tax-supported public library in the United States was established by the town meeting of Peterborough, New Hampshire.
From the library’s website:
Peterborough has been home to several types of libraries, beginning with the Peterborough Social Library, founded sometime in the 1790s. This small collection of books was well used by members, until the volumes were worn out, discarded, or sold in 1830. In 1827, the Rev. Abiel Abbot arrived in Peterborough as the new minister of the newly built Unitarian Church. Abbot took an immediate interest in educational opportunities for the people. He formed a Juvenile Library, a ministerial library, and a shares-based library with annual dues of 0 cents. Elsewhere in town, the Union and Phoenix Cotton Factories hosted libraries for the mill workers. All of these libraries were well appreciated by those who had the privilege to access the collections. Abbot, however, perceived a need for a library open to all and not based on who you knew, how old you were, where you worked, or whether you could afford to access it.
On April 9, 1833, at Peterborough’s Town Meeting, a proposal was put forward to create a library to be owned and funded by the people through taxation. It would be open to all and become the first free tax-supported public library in the nation.