When the Berlin Chess Club held their organizational meeting in 1894, the members also decided to form a library for the town. Two of the members donated nine hundred books from their own collections. Miss Fanny Streeter volunteered to serve as librarian, a position she held until her death. W. Judson Cowee was elected first president of the board of trustees and remained president until his death around 1930.
The first home for the library was on the second floor of the original W.H. Lewis & Son store between the Cash Market and the Corner Store on Main Street. In the late 1930’s, the library moved to 7 Elm Street. When Mary Whitehouse died in the early 1940’s, she left her home on South Main Street to the library. The library moved into the Whitehouse home in 1946.
A major renovation and expansion project began in 2001. When it was completed in November of 2002, the library began offering more programs and services to better serve the community.
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