{"nrhp_refnum":"73000311","name":"Peabody Institute Library","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Peabody","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.52492089300006,"lon":-70.92395531299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-06-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-storey red brick library building in Italianate style on Main Street at Peabody Square in Peabody, Massachusetts. Cornerstone laid 1853, dedicated September 1854, enlarged 1867-1868.","why_significant":"The library was funded by gifts totalling $200,000 from philanthropist George Peabody, for whom the town was later named. It hosted notable lecturers such as Oliver Wendell Holmes and Ralph Waldo Emerson. A historian called it the oldest free public library in America to remain in active service at the same location under much the same conditions as when it opened.","narrative":"Peabody Institute Library is a two-storey red brick building with sandstone trim, set on a high granite foundation at Peabody Square on Main Street. Its simplified Italianate design includes a bracketed cornice, an oculus in the gable, round-top windows with sandstone hoodmolds, and an Ionic-columned entrance portico reached by six granite steps. The original section held a library and committee room downstairs and a lecture hall above. A rear ell added in 1867-1868 made room for the paneled Sutton Reference Room. Funding came from George Peabody, a merchant, banker and philanthropist who grew up in the town, through gifts totalling $200,000. The cornerstone was laid in 1853 and the building was dedicated in 1854, with Rufus Choate giving the address. Lecturers over the years included Oliver Wendell Holmes and Ralph Waldo Emerson. A vault displays Peabody's honors, including a jeweled miniature portrait given by Queen Victoria. One historian described it as the oldest free public library in America still serving at its original location.","period_of_significance":"1854 (specific date; 19th and 20th centuries checked)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Simplified Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition, altered, on its original site; occupied and open to the public as a library and museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.924002-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/7947/63794702/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000311.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000311/4664d10cc9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000311/4664d10cc9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peabody_Institute_Library,_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peabody_Institute_Library,_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794702","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peabody_Institute_Library_(Peabody,_Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14715808"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/peabody-institute-library-73000311/"}