Westfield Athenaeum - Westfield Center Historic District - Westfield, MA
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N 42° 07.230 W 072° 44.975
18T E 686027 N 4665606
The Westfield Athenaeum houses the Milton Burrall Whitney Memorial Library, Jasper Rand Art Museum, and the The Edwin Smith Historical Museum. It is located at 6 Elm Street at the corner of Street in Westfield, MA.
Waymark Code: WM15WNY
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 03/10/2022
Views: 1
Honorable James Fowler constructed a residence on the corner of Elm and Court Streets in 1838. Upon the death the ownership was transferred to the trustees of Westfield Academy who gave the building to the Atheneaum, Inc. The house was remodeled for use as a library. Upon his death, Milton Burrall Whitney, the President of the Athenaeum, left $80,000 for expansion and remodeling of an Atheneaum library. The library was dedicated on March 6, 1899. The library is named after its donor and is called the Milton Burrall Whitney Memorial Library.
In 1908 a portion of the building was redesigned as a children's room, and in 1921 an annex was added to the west on Court Street. The children's library has a separate entrance on Court Street. In 1927, the architectural firm of Coolidge and Carlson was commissioned to reconstruct the Atheneaum in the neo-Classical style into what is now the present building . The redesigned building was opened on April 22, 1927. In addition to the library, the Atheneaum included the Jasper Rand Art Museum. The Edwin Smith Historical Museum was added in 1928.
The Westfield Atheneaum is free to use and the Milton Burrall Whitney Memorial Library functions as Westfield's public library. The Westfield Atheneaum is listed on page 25 of the narrative for the Westfield Center Historic District of the National Register of historic Places which was listed in 2013 as a major expansion of the Westfield Center Commercial Historic District. (
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