HISTORIC
LANGHORNE LIBRARY / HISTORIC LANGHORNE ASSN. HEADQUARTERS
Submitted and published in the Langhorne
Ledger by Sally Valone of the Historic Langhorne Association
The first library in Langhorne was established by a
decision of the Friends Meeting. It
was the natural beginning for an early Langhorne.
It was noted in the minutes of the Middletown Monthly Meeting on the
third day of the seventh month 1691 that 23 books had been received from the
printer and most of them were religious in nature. The minutes also gave a list of names of those who could take
the books home to be read. By 1718,
300 books were circulating among the members of the Middletown Meeting.
Later, in 1799, when the Borough was called Attleborough,
34 men and women signed a petition to charter a library for the Quaker village.
Three years later Governor Thomas McKean issued a charter to the
Attleborough Library Company on March 24, 1802.
The books had been kept in private citizen’s homes, and on shelves of
the general store. The books were moved into a small house next door to the
Richardson House in the center of the village. It became the library when the
firehouse moved to Bellevue Avenue.
When the borough name was changed from Attleborough to
Langhorne in 1876, the library became the Langhorne Library.
Twelve years later – in July 1888- ground was broken for the red brick
Gothic-style Victorian building which stands at 160 W. Maple Avenue.
Miss Anna Mary Williamson, niece of Isaiah VanSant Williamson, noted
Quaker philanthropist, willed to three library trustees the sum of $12,000 for
the purchase of the site and the construction of a library building. The
building’s bricks were manufactured in Langhorne and the elaborate
rose-detailed rosette inserts were purchased in nearby Philadelphia.
The interior woodwork, handmade from Chestnut wood, remains in its
natural state. The will states the entire $12,000 must be spent which was a
challenge to the builders and trustees, necessitating extravagant spending for
that era. As a result the library
was illuminated by electricity, making it the first public building in Bucks
County to be illuminated by electricity.
In 1960 the name was changed to the Langhorne-Middletown
Library and the four small boroughs – Langhorne, Langhorne Manor, Penndel and
Hulmeville – joined the Middletown Township to support it as a free public
library. In 1962 the first structural change in the building that had been
dedicated on November 9, 1889, was made by adding a small balcony constructed to
add 551 square feet to the original 1500 square feet.
The library served the community for 90 years.
Because of the population growth in Middletown Township following the
mid-fifties the need for a new building became apparent. After a merger of the
Langhorne-Middletown Library and Bucks County
Free Library in 1971 the need for a new building was given priority and
after 4 years of patient effort the Pennwood Branch of the Bucks County Free
Library was built.
In looking for an old picture of the building, it caused
quite a stir when someone noticed a small building to the left of the main
building which is not there today and no one remembers it being there. Research
tells us the small building was on the neighbors property and not part of the
library building.
The old library building became the headquarters of the
Historic Langhorne Association by permission of Bucks County Commissioners in
1977. In keeping with the
Williamson Will a research library and museum is maintained and open to the
public on Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. to noon and from 7-9 p.m.
Starting June 15th the building will be open on Saturdays from
10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m . Artifacts donated by local people are on display.
There is also a gift shop with interesting items for sale.
HLA has been busy researching, recording and preserving Langhorne
history. If you are interested in genealogy we may have something in our
archives you are looking for. If you have some memories of Langhorne, we would
like to add them to our memory book.
