The Rich History of Rochester’s Vital Landmark:
Our history starts with a small collection of over 100 volumes known as the Rochester Historical Library which were available sometime in the early 1800s, leading up to a small library opened freely to all townspeople around 1866 in connection with the Rochester Academy. With the closing of the school, however, library services were also suspended. The Rochester Free Public Library would open on August 19, 1876 in the north recitation room of the Academy building with over 800 books on its shelves, all thanks to a generous donation from Elizabeth Leonard in memory of her husband, Charles Leonard. In 1891, Mrs. Leonard would donate half the money needed to construct the current Town Hall, with the stipulation that the new building include the library. The library would live in what is now the Assessor’s Office in Town Hall until the construction of the Joseph H. Plumb Memorial Library in 1976. Portraits of Elizabeth and Charles Leonard, which were donated to the library in 1931 by their relatives Eunice Haskell and Mrs. Charles Delano, may be viewed in the vestibule.
The present library was built in 1976. The building and grounds were donated to the town by Dorothy (Gibbs) Bray Plumb, in memory of her late husband, Joseph H. Plumb who died in 1970. Joseph Hudson Plumb was born in 1913 and prior to living in Rochester, Massachusetts he resided in the neighboring town of Marion, Massachusetts. He was the son of Joseph Plumb and Maybelle Houghton. He wrote at least one novel, Trading West, which was published in Boston by B. Humphries in 1940. Mr. Plumb was an avid boater, yachtsman, reader, and car collector. He and Dorothy Plumb lived in several of the prominent homes in Rochester. There are portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Plumb on display at the library, and Mr. Plumb’s oversized, solid oak rocking chair is a favorite feature of the library’s seating area.
Mrs. Plumb relied on the help of local builder Robert Sherman, who planned and designed the attractive, cape-style building to coordinate with the existing architecture on the town Common. Located next to the Congregational Church and adjacent to the Town Hall, the building now stands as an important landmark in town.
Expansion & Development
The library was expanded to include the vestibule entrance, modern bathrooms, shelving in the children’s area and vestibule, and new carpeting in 2006. The small meeting room was completed in 2012, with help from the Makepeace Fund.
The Gazebo was built in 1998 by Eagle Scout David Santos. The Reading Garden was installed in 2008 in memory of Steven Santos. Peter Gross donated the leaf sculpture, and the marker for the Second Meetinghouse Step.
In 2019, Eagle Scout Colin Mackin and his crew installed the “Little Hundred Acre Wood”, a picnic, reading, and socializing area near the parking lot.
In 2020, Facilities Director Andrew Daniel was awarded a $100,000 Small Town Capital Grant to renovate the library’s unfinished basement. With the assistance of electrician Mike Bussenger and Old Colony Carpentry, the library’s downstairs was completely transformed to create a vibrant new program and meeting space complete with a fully accessible restroom, an elevator, updated fire panels and insulation, carpeting, and storage cabinets and closets. With the additional space, we can now offer even more to our community – including local author talks, workshops for all ages, storytimes, summer programs, and a public meeting room for nonprofits.
The small meeting room completed in 2012 was converted to a dedicated Teen Room in 2026 with a grant from the Senator Rodrigues Community Empowerment Fund of the SouthCoast Community Foundation.
