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MISSION STATEMENT
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The mission of the
G.E.P. Dodge Library is to provide the community of Bennington, New
Hampshire with current information on subjects of topical and local
interests, materials with differing points of view on contemporary and
historical issues, materials for instruction, recreation and entertainment,
and to provide access to a universe of information beyond the library's own
collection through interlibrary cooperation and the efficient use of
technology, within a comfortable and accessible facility and in a fiscally
responsible manner. To accomplish this mission the library will
provide materials in a variety of formats and up-to-date resources to
satisfy a wide variety of philosophical, religious, political and
recreational interests for patrons of all ages. |
G.E.P. DODGE LIBRARY HISTORY
| In 1860 a group of
resident women founded the Bennington Circulatory Library and for 20 years
acquired and maintained a collection of 235 books that were held in various
private homes. In March 1880 the town voted to establish the
Bennington Town Library and from 1880 until 1906 the library operated from
what is now the restroom at the Bennington Town Hall. In 1906 George Edward
Payson Dodge, at the request of his aunt, presented the town with $8,000 to
build a library on Main Street that to this day serves as the town library.
The library was dedicated on August 1, 1906 and has since been known as the
G.E.P. Dodge Library.
George Edward Payson Dodge was
born in Bennington in 1839, the son of George Dodge. As a child he moved to
Lancaster, Massachusetts, then to Boston, Massachusetts and finally to
Chicago, IL where he and two others established the Phelps Dodge & Palmer
wholesale boot and shoe company. The library's bronze doors were given
to the library in memory of Mr. Dodge by his partner Mr. Phelps.
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BENNINGTON
| Bennington is located in
the southwest portion of New Hampshire along the Contoocook River, in the
shadow of Crotched Mountain, at 660 feet above sea level in Hillsborough
County, in the Monadnock region. The main routes of access serving
Bennington are NH State routes 31, 47 and 202. Bennington was formed
in 1842 from a mill area called Society Land that was shared by the towns of
Hancock, Greenfield and Francestown. Bennington has been a mill town
before and since its incorporation. The operating mill in Bennington
today is the Monadnock Paper Mill.
Bennington's student population is
served by the Contoocook Valley School District, out of Peterborough, NH-
SAU # 1. Students are educated in Bennington through fourth grade at Pierce
Elementary School located on Main Street, fifth through eighth grades are
taught at the Great Brook Middle School located in Antrim, and ninth through
twelfth grades are taught at the Contoocook Valley High School in
Peterborough. |
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