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Our History
Stowe's earliest libraries were subscription-based or membership libraries, common in the early 19th century. In 1866, the Stowe Free Library was founded with a donation of 51 books from visiting summer artists, supplemented by a $100 town appropriation.
Stowe became the first town in Vermont to appropriate funds for a library under the 1865 state law.
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After moving between several locations, including the Jenney-Straw House, shown above, the library found a long-term home in 1904 in the “new” town hall, the Akeley Memorial Building. It remained in this location for seventy-seven years, before moving to it's permanent building on Pond Street.
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The library is operated as a municipal department of the Town of Stowe funded by taxes as part of the general budget. Additional income from endowment interest, fees, fines, donations, and proceeds from Friends of the Stowe Free Library help provide additional programming and collections funding.
The Greek Revival building, which broke ground in 1861, and first opened in 1863 as Stowe Village School. It was later used exclusively for upper grades before being abandoned in 1974 when a new high school was built away from the town center.
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The establishment of the building was made possible by a bequest from Helen Day Montanari and Marguerite E. Lichtenthaeler. Dr. Lichtenthaeler moved to Stowe, Vermont, with Montanari and established a medical practice, continuing to see patients until the age of eighty. Helen Day Montanari, originally
Thanks to a bequest and the efforts of local preservationists, the building—once known as "Old Yeller"—was restored in 1981 to accommodate both the Stowe Free Library and the Helen Day Art Center (now known as The Current). A major addition to the building was completed in 1994 through local community support, and a modest interior renovation was carried out in 2002 with a grant from the Freeman Foundation of Stowe.
from Boston, Massachusetts, shared intellectual interests and a love of travel with Lichtenthaeler, and both women were deeply concerned with the quality of life in their community.
Dr. Lichtenthaeler actively supported library appropriations at town meetings, and Montanari left a $40,000 trust upon her death in 1955 for the creation of an art center and a library. Later, a successful campaign raised the remaining funds necessary for the Stowe Free Library and the Helen Day Art Center.