500 Main Street Hartford, CT 06103 860-695-6300 The Downtown Library is temporarily closed due to water damage. Please visit us at one of our branch locations.

History

Hartford Public Library’s history spans more than 235 years. We can trace its very beginnings to the Library Company, formally organized in 1774 by a few subscribers to purchase a "collection of useful and religious books". In 1838, in harmony with the movement towards lyceums and literary culture that was spreading across the country, a new organization formed in Hartford called the Young Men’s Institute, later chartered as the Hartford Young Men’s Institute. It was a private association. The Hartford Young Men’s Institute invited Hartford Library Company subscribers to join with them, offering them lifetime memberships. Library Company members agreed and brought to the institute their collection, one that had blossomed from 700 books in 1774 to 3,000 volumes in 1838.

Hartford Young Men’s Institute opened to the public, with taxpayer dollars, in 1892 and, in 1893, its name was officially changed to the Hartford Public Library by a special act of the Connecticut General Assembly.

The Library was located in the Wadsworth Atheneum from 1844 to early 1957. On January 2, 1957, a new building opened at the present site. By 1996 it was very clear that a renovated and expanded Library was necessary, and that same year a $19 million city bond issue was approved by the voters of Hartford. Another $18 million was also approved by the Hartford citizens in 2000, and the Library embarked on a capital campaign to raise $5 million in order to complete the project. The renovation and expansion of the Downtown Library brings the Library into the 21st century, fully equipped to serve the citizens of Hartford, and indeed, the entire greater Hartford region.

Parking

Metered parking at 25 cents per 15 minutes up to 2 hours, is available on the Arch Street lot adjacent to the Library, Mondays through Fridays. Parking is free after 6 pm.  Machines take cash or credit cards. Parking is free on Saturdays and Sundays. 

The Sheldon Street Garage accepts credit or debit cards, not cash. Rates are $2.50 per hour for the first two hours; $8 for the day. Weekend rats are $1.50 for the first two hours; $5 for the day. 

Both lots have handicapped spaces.

Metered street parkings is also available on Main, Sheldon and Arch streets.

For more parking information, please click here.

Patio service