The Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library

David A. Gregg was a successful businessman, the founder (with his father) of D. Gregg and Co. in Wilton. This firm was a consolidation of several Wilton businesses acquired by his father, also named David; which included, among others, the old Depot Store (no longer standing) at the eastern end of Main Street near the railroad station. The elder Gregg, who with his family split his time between residences in Nashua and Wilton, went on to establish the Nashua firm of Gregg and Son on Crown Street, which manufactured doors, sashes, blinds and millwork. Both father and son served, at various times, as Selectmen for Wilton, as well as representatives to the state General Court; David Jr. served for a time as Town Clerk beginning in 1863.  David Sr. died in 1880, and David Jr. assumed control of the family business and ran it with his son, William. David A. Gregg was the grandfather of NH Governor Hugh Gregg, and the Great-Grandfather of NH Congressman, Governor, and Senator Judd Gregg.

The town’s first public library had burned in the Main Street fire of 1881, and while several attempts were made by the Trustees of that institution to find another suitable location, nothing came of it. In 1905 David A. Gregg decided to gift the town with a new library building, and construction began that year on a parcel of land owned by the Gregg family on Forest Road in the East Village. The entire cost of the land and building was estimated at $100,000.00, a not insignificant sum for the time. At a special Town Meeting on December 11, 1907, the town agreed to accept Gregg’s generous donation and the building was dedicated on September 22, 1908.  At the dedication ceremony, Gregg concluded his remarks with the following words: “Before I built the Library building, I had a little money I wanted to invest, and having had a varied experience in making investments, I was anxious to place this money where it would not be lost; where the principal would be safe, and the interest good and sure. . . It occurred to me that a Library building for the town of Wilton would be as safe a place as I needed to look for; that the principal would be safe, and the interest good to all those who cared to accept it.”

 The Library was constructed under the supervision of Henry L. Emerson, a Wilton carpenter and builder, and all the interior work, including elaborate woodwork in oak, curly birch, sycamore, and mahogany, and intricate plaster work, was donated by Gregg and Son. The Main Rotunda is a spectacular room with a mosaic tile floor and an ornate plaster ceiling with an ocular stained glass window set in its center. Most notable is the original Children’s Reading room, which is paneled in curly birch wainscoting, with doors, a fireplace mantel (which features hand-crafted Grueby tilework surrounding the firebox) and shelving of the same wood. The ceiling frieze is hand-stenciled and the entire ceiling is also bordered in hand-stenciling. In addition, the walls are stenciled in an intricate pattern, and divided into thirteen painted wall panels depicting various African animals. The second floor of the Library houses the offices and collections of the Wilton Historical Society. The Library serves as a valuable, as well as beautiful, cultural and educational resource for the town and its inhabitants.

Abiel Abbot Livermore and Sewell Putnam, History of the Town of Wilton, Hillsborough County New Hampshire: With a Genealogical Register. (Lowell: Marden and Rowell, 1888), p. 390

National Archives Catalog, “NH SP Wilton Public and Greg Free Library,” https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77845200

Hon. David A. Gregg Library Dedication Speech MS, uncatalogued, Wilton Public and Gregg Free Library Collections

Wikipedia, “Grueby Faience Company,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grueby_Faience_Company