Historic North Dartmouth library will move to senior center

The original North Dartmouth library will be saved and moved to the Council on Aging on Dartmouth Street, officials announced at a Select Board meeting on March 2.

At the meeting, the Dartmouth Council on Aging and Friends of the Elderly revealed plans to restore and move the historic building for use as a space for the senior center’s programs.

Built in 1911, the little library sits behind the old North Dartmouth Library on Tucker Road — itself scheduled for demolition, as plans are in place for the road to be moved to form a new intersection with State and Hathaway roads.

After considerable discussion about the building’s future, the Board of Library Trustees voted last June to not move it to the site of the new North Dartmouth Library on Cross Road. 

The historic library has not been in use for years, and has fallen into disrepair. It measures only 20 feet by 25 feet. 

Originally constructed at Smith Mills on State Road, it was later moved to its current location — but it will need to be shored up before it can be moved again to its new home on Dartmouth Street.

Member of the Dartmouth Historical Commission Bob Harding had decried the “demolition by neglect” of the building at a meeting last summer.

Harding said that he remembered the building when it was still in use back when he was a student at the Gidley School in the 40s. 

“It was popular,” he said. “It was packed with books.”

Friends of the Elderly President Maria Connor said at the March 2 meeting that the move alone will likely cost $60,000 - $70,000. 

“We will be doing fundraising for that purpose,” she said.

Council on Aging director Amy DiPietro noted that the library would be relocated to a cleared lot adjacent to the senior center and the DeMello School.

“We both feel that moving the library we would be able to use it on a daily basis,” she added. 

“We need the space for programs,” agreed Connor. “It will be used.”