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The first library in Lynnfield, called the Lynnfield Social Library, was established in 1795 with seventy subscribers or shareholders. The Lyceum Library followed in 1835 and later merged with the Social Library. After the private home in which the collection was housed was later destroyed by fire, the Lynnfield Agricultural Library was established about 1850 and was financed by shareholders. In 1890 when the state offered $100 to every town that would appropriate an equivalent amount to establishing a free public library, Lynnfield voted at town meeting to elect a Board of Trustees and to appropriate the funds to acquire the gift. The Lynnfield Public Library opened on July 22, 1892 with a collection of 554 books in a room in the new Town Hall. Elizabeth W. Green became the first librarian.
By 1904 the library outgrew its Town Hall location and in a special town meeting in November of that year, the Trustees were authorized "to utilize the old school building near the Common" for the public library. The library moved to its present location on Summer Street opposite the Common in what was a former school building dating from 1856. It is now the Children's Room in the present library. At that time Lynnfield had a population of about 800, there were 700 books in the collection and the library was open to the public only 3 hours per week.
In 1910 a wooded road connected the two ends of Lynnfield. In order that the library users in South Lynnfield would be better served, a branch library opened in the home of Angelia Palmer under the supervision of Cora Pike. In 1914 the collection was moved to the old South Street school on the corner of Salem and Summer streets. Overcrowded conditions necessitated another change in location and in 1923 a new branch library was built.
The decade from 1950 to 1960 saw some of the biggest changes in Lynnfield as the country experienced a post World War growth in population and building. The population increased from 3,925 in 1950 to 8,500 by 1960 and the library's book collection expanded to 10,000. The library was still open only 3 hours per week. An addition of 700 square feet in 1959 did little to alleviate the space problem. Lois Flewelling was named head librarian in 1957 after Elizabeth Green became too ill to work.
The addition that brought the library to its present size was finished in 1967. A building committee was organized to obtain plans and estimates, a variety of obstacles to the expansion were overcome and the newly expanded library was dedicated on December 3, 1967. The year saw Marcia Wiswall promoted to Head Librarian when Lois Flewelling resigned. Federal grants were awarded to the library to support the increased usage of our new facility and services. A Business and Investment collection for local area businessmen and job seekers and a phonograph collection were assembled and an Index table and display cases were purchased. The Trustees voted to close the branch library but Lynnfield citizens objected and the branch remained open until 1990.
In 1974 in response to the Bicentennial, emphasis was placed on collecting, organizing and analyzing local history and the Local History/Genealogy collection was created. A new volunteer program was created in 1974 that aided staff in filing and shelving materials. A Friends of the Library organization was created and in 1975 it was cited as one of the best Friends group in Massachusetts.
In 1981 the Peabody Institute Library of Peabody initiated an effort to create an electronic catalog of its holdings and Lynnfield was one of the first communities to join this project. The result of this cooperation is NOBLE or North of Boston Library Exchange, a library consortium with a current membership of twenty-five public, college and special libraries. NOBLE's mission is "improving library service by facilitating access to library materials and information through automation." Through our participation in this cooperative and regional effort, over two million library items are made available to our patrons.