The Island Free Library was established on March 6, 1875 under the name “The Island Library Association.” The members were “interested in obtaining better advantages for intellectual improvement than were then enjoyed on Block Island” (Livermore, 1873). Members paid an annual fee: $1 for men, and fifty cents for women. By the spring of the next year, 1876, the library had been established with Arthur W. Brown as librarian. At this time, the library was located at the bottom of Center Road at the town hall and offered 250 volumes that fit into one bookcase.
In early 1877, after a year of operation, the number of books had reached 500, most of which were donated. On Halloween night in 1923 the library was completely destroyed when the town hall burned down. Beginning again, the library was located for many years in the back of Star Department store. In 1958, the library moved to Chapel Street with Bea Dodge as Librarian, into the smallest of the three shops facing the street (now part of the Hagopian marketplace).
In 1975, one hundred years after its inception, the Island Free Library moved into its current location–at the time a brand-new building on Dodge Street– with Sandra Madison Gaffett at its helm. This move was the result of the generosity of Lester Dodge. When Dodge passed in June 1971, his will left the bulk of his estate, nearly $400,000, to the town of New Shoreham to build and maintain a new library on his family homestead on Dodge Street.
