Eldredge Public Library

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were a period of economic and population decline for Chatham, Massachusetts, and the Eldredge Public Library is without question the most important public building constructed in the area during that period. In the 1890s, Chatham was a small remote fishing and farming village on Cape Cod, a region of Massachusetts Whose economy had faltered in the mid-nineteenth century along with the various maritime enterprises that made up its base. At that time, two small one-room libraries existed in Chatham – the 1875 Pilgram Library in South Chatham and the Chatham Public Library and Reading Room which had been established in 1887 as an informal library association for Chatham Village. Thus, when Marcellus Eldredge offered to construct a library for the town, his gift was most welcome.  

Marcellus Eldredge was born in Chatham on November 24, 1838, lived in the house at 135 Main Street, and attended public school there as well. Upon completion of his education at the age of fourteen, Eldredge moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he served as a clerk in his father’s grain business. In 1858 he became a clerk at M. Fisher and Company, a small brewery, and soon thereafter was appointed to general manager. In 1870, Fisher sold the company to Eldredge and his father, Heman. With Eldredge as president and treasurer, the Eldredge Brewing Company expanded to become the second largest brewery in New England. During this period, Eldredge was also active politically, serving as both New Hampshire State Senator and Mayor of Portsmouth. In 1891, he sold the brewing company to his younger brother, Heman Fisher Eldredge. 

Marcellus Eldredge did not forget his native town of Chatham once he made his fortune, and he remained involved there as one of the largest stockholders of the Chatham Railroad Company, as a major donor to the Chatham Methodist Church, and as the owner of a large estate on Watch Hill overlooking the harbor. Perhaps persuaded by his nieces who were avid supporters of the Chatham Public Library and Reading Room, Eldredge decided to benefit his birthplace through donation of an up-to-date library. He bought the existing library lot from Daniel W. Nickerson on April 18, 1895 for $1,000, and selected Albion M. Marble, a little-known architect from Fall River, to design the building. Marble may have been recommended by George Rankin, the Fall River librarian who advised Eldredge on the original selection of books for his library. The only other building currently attributed to Marble in the statewide inventory is the Bristol County Registry of Deeds in Taunton. With a capacity of twelve thousand volumes, the building took over one year to complete at a cost of over $30,000.  

Upon completion of the new library, dedication ceremonies were held on July 4, 1896. The library formally opened to the public on July 11, 1896 and Eldredge conveyed the land and building to the Eldredge Public Library Corporation for only one dollar on August 1, 1896. Shortly thereafter, an endowment for the new library was established by transferring the assets of the Chatham Public Library and Reading Room which included the $9,000 Isaac Loveland Fund, and the unexpected balance of that year’s town appropriation. Additionally, Eldredge and his brother Heman Fisher each donated $2,500 worth of four percent government bonds to create the Eldredge Fund.  

Eldredge Public Library, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed January 6th 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794031.

Library History, Eldredge Public Library. Accessed January 6th 2021. https://www.eldredgelibrary.org/.

Eldredge Public Library, Historic Chatham. Accessed January 6th 2021. https://www.historic-chatham.org/epl.html.