Stratham Historical Society
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The Stratham Historical Society is a local
historical society A historical society (sometimes also preservation society) is an organization dedicated to preserving, collecting, researching, and interpreting historical information or items. Originally, these societies were created as a way to help future gen ...
serving the town of
Stratham, New Hampshire Stratham is a New England town, town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The town had a population of 7,669 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is bounded on the west by the Squamscott ...
. Its headquarters are at 158 Portsmouth Avenue, in the former Wiggin Memorial Library building. That building, constructed in 1912, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1993, and the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in 2012.


Description and history

The building is located at the southeast corner of Portsmouth Road and Winnicutt Road in the town center of Stratham. It is a single-story masonry structure, built out of rubblestone with granite and wooden trim. It is covered by a side gable roof, with chimneys rising from the end walls. The main facade consists of a pair of projecting gabled sections flanking a central entrance
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
. The portico is supported by four large granite columns, which support a corniced entablature. The interior is organized with the librarian's desk at the center, and reading rooms in the flanking wings, with fireplaces at the end walls. Its dominant architectural features are the roof supports, which are formed out of massive curved timbers. Stratham had private libraries beginning in 1793, and financially began to support the last of these in 1896. In 1912, a dedicated library building was built at 158 Portsmouth Avenue, to a design by
Charles Howard Walker Charles Howard Walker (January 9, 1857 – April 12, 1936) was an architect, designer and educator in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was associated with the architecture department at the Massachusetts Ins ...
. Its construction was funded by a bequest from Emma Blodgett Wiggin, and was named as a memorial to her and her husband, George Wiggin. It served as the town's public library until 1989, when the library moved to its current facilities, the contemporary Wiggin Memorial Library. The 1912 building now serves as a research library and meeting place for the Stratham Historical Society.


See also

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National Register of Historic Places listings in Rockingham County, New Hampshire This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Rockingham County, Ne ...


References

{{NRHP in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Library buildings completed in 1912 Buildings and structures in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Libraries in Rockingham County, New Hampshire 1912 establishments in New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Rockingham County, New Hampshire New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places Stratham, New Hampshire