Rumford Public Library Rumford, ME 04276 - Information and Services

Cards and Borrowing

* Card are free of charge to individuals/taxpayers from Rumford, Hanover, Byron and Roxbury. Please bring proof of residence when you come to apply for a card.

* Only valid cardholders may borrow library materials. Consult the circulation desk for current fees for nonresidents. If you are a Dixfield resident holding a Ludden library card in good standing, you may use your card at the Rumford Public Library, as well. All RPL items are loaned for two weeks. Please honor our due dates.

* You can renew items online, by calling in or in person. Renewals, requests and reserves may be placed online, by phone or at the circulation desk. Please call during business hours and speak to a staff member for the assistance. If an item has a hold on it for another patron, we may not be able to renew the item. Fines are 5 cents per day, per item, but never more than $2.00 total for any number of items returned at one time. If your fines are $3.00 or more, your borrowing privileges are suspended.

* Please have your card with you when you visit the library or call.

* You can place requests when online through the Minerva catalog or through the Mainecat catalog. We are part of the van delivery service, which facilitates getting items from library to library. If you need assistance with a book’s title or author or any part of the online process please feel free to stop by or call the library. (364-3661)

* Check the Circulation web page for more information.
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Computer Information

* We have eight public access computers in the library. They are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The signup sheet for computer use is at the front desk. The sheets at the front desk are used to insure fairness of access. There is also a waiting list you can sign if the machines are full. Please be sure to sign up before going to a computer.

* The machines are Intel-based systems using either Windows XP Pro or Windows 7. There is an Office suite on the machines (Microsoft Office or Open Office). Though not all are Microsoft Office, they all can handle Microsoft Office files. You will also find a graphic program installed, as well as video players. Headphones may be borrowed by producing a valid RPL card.

* Some computers have CD/DVD burning software and an optical drive capable of making copies of files. Please be aware of any copyright limitations.

* Internet Explorer is on each machine for browsing the Web. Some also have the Firefox browser.

* Most machines have front USB ports for "thumb" drives and some have card slots as well.

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The Library has a wireless connection that anyone may use. The connection is not secured, so you can walk in and just connect. We ask users to please beware of passing sensitive information across this connection. Please see the staff if you have any questions. Use the wireless connection with care. All anti-virus and security protection is the responsibility of the user. To connect, you will need a wireless network card and wireless enabled laptop or other wireless devices, such as PDAs. You will need to set up the wireless connection before you can connect. Check your manual if you have any trouble. The staff is not trained to set up wireless connections. Please come with a charged battery as there are not always outlets available. There are two power strips in the Library for public use. The library does not check out wireless cards.

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Information and Services

* Online requests can be picked up at the front desk up once they arrive. You will be called when it comes in.

* The public room is available for civic, cultural or educational use. (Seating is approximately 100) If you wish to request time in the public room, there is a form to fill out and submit to the Director. FMI see the Director or call 364-3661. The public room schedule shows room use for the month.

* Please turn off your cell phone ring or audible alerts in the library. Rings and conversations are distracting to others. You may use your cell phone on the outside steps.

* During the school year, when school is in session, a Story Time is held Wednesdays at 10 am in the Public Room by the Children’s Librarian for pre-schoolers. There is a story and often music or crafts. Other events include a 4-week Summer Fest with enrichment programs. Summer Reading Club is part of the fun.

* Fax, Copy and Scan-to-email are available. Please check for the latest fee schedule at 207-364-3661. Our fax number is 207-364-7296.

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Staff

* Susan Marshall - Director

* Meghan Malone - Children's Librarian

* Abby Austin - Circulation Supervisor

* Mary Ann Fournier - Adult Services Librarian

* Thomas Currivan - Technology Coordinator

* Serena Theriault - Library Assistant

Trustees

* Carolyn Kennard - Trustee, Chair

* Jerry Cohen - Trustee
* Jane Shuck - Trustee
* Maureen Cook - Trustee
* Linda MacGregor - Trustee

Hours

Monday, Wednesday: 9am - 4pm
Tuesday, Thursday: 8am - 4pm
Friday 9am - 2pm
Saturday, Sunday: Close

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Mission Statement:

The Rumford Public Library preserves the past, celebrates the present, and leads into the future with the best possible library services. –
Rumford Public Library Mission Statement – 11/06/2003

The Library is closed on the following holidays:

New Year’s, Martin Luther King Day, President’s Day, Patriot’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day.
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About the Library

* The Rumford Public Library was established in 1903 with a grant from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and designed by John Calvin Stevens. A large addition was completed in 1969. Today, the library building is on the National Register of Historic Places and serves as the town’s center for children’s activities, cultural pursuits, reading and research. The Rumford Public Library is an active, full-service information resource for residents, businesses, and institutions in Rumford and the Northern Oxford County area. We invite you to become a member of the library and share in the privileges that access to information provides.

* In this photo, you can see the sign at the right pointing towards one of the entrances to the Children’s Room. Also, to the right is a handicapped access ramp that goes up to the Circulation Area.

We ask that there is no smoking on Library property, including the parking lot.

* We have large windowed areas for reading, using your laptop or other wireless devices. There are a few special groupings of books. For example, our Maine collection and Short Story collection are at the far wall, in the photo.

* In the center of the Circulation area is the Main Desk. Here you can check out items, return items, and request assistance finding information on an item. Because of our automated catalog system, you can request items yourself - at home or at a library computer.

If you want to find out what books are in a series, try this web site. We receive van deliveries of online requests, and it is from this desk that you will receive a phone call notifying you when something comes in.

* There are a number of public access computers throughout the library. Here you see some of the available computers in the Circulation area. There are PCs in the Reference Room and the Children’s Room. Further along you can see spinners for our mass market paperbacks. There are sections for fiction, non-fiction, westerns, graphic novels, romance and science fiction. At the end of these spinners is the outer door that leads to the handicapped access ramp. Also, you can find Large Print books in a special place.

* Another part of the Circulation area are the New Books shelves. It is to your left of the Circulation desk as you enter from the front door.

Behind him is the Reference Room.

Children's Librarian in the Children's Room.

* Our Children’s Librarian directs the Story Time programs and Summer Fest from here. You will find her in the inviting room full of wonderful books, videotapes, CDs and toys. Please stop by and ask her about something you want to find.

* From the parking lot, you can find the handicapped access ramp that leads to the back door of the Public Room and lower level of the library.

* There is limited parking in the upper lot, so a lower parking lot can be found down a driveway, near the park and the bridge.

* The Library is located on Rumford Avenue (Rt. 2 at the Rotary) overlooking Chisholm Park and the Lower Falls of the Androscoggin River. Click here for a map.

About Our Town

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Rumford, with a population of 6,472(2000 Census), is located in Northern Oxford County at the foothills of the White Mountains. The area’s forests, hiking trails, ski areas, snowmobile trails, lakes, and gem and mineral deposits provide unlimited opportunities for four season recreation. Information on our ten-town area may be found at the River Valley Chamber of Commerce web site.
Our 2000 population was 6,472 with a median age of 41.2 years old. The number of students enrolled in school was 1,439. 53.8% of the population over 16 was employed. The median household income was $33,878.00 with a per capita income of $16,701.00, including all households.

Rumford, Maine, is located at 44.554°North and 70.551°West at an elevation of 600 ft. above sea level. Our area is very rich in mineral deposits. Local mines and minerals are listed on the Mine Data site.

Rumford is also the home of the Chisholm Ski Club and Black Mountain of Maine. You will need Adobe Shockwave Player 11 to view that site. There is a very active snowmobile club in Rumford, the Rumford Polar Bears Snowmobile Club.

Rumford Highlights

* Timothy Walker, Jr. and some associates from Pennacook, NH were granted a seven square mile parcel of land about twelve miles east of Sudbury Canada, which is now Bethel. Thirty families were to be settled in the area within six years as part of the agreement. In 1779 an additional five years was allowed. Called New Pennacook Plantation, Rumford was originally settled between 1774 and 1778. Jonathan Keyes was the first white settler to locate in the New Pennacook Plantation near what is now Rumford Center. The first child born in New Pennacook was Samuel, the son of Benjamin Lufkin, on August 15, 1788. By 1800 the New Pennacook Plantation had a population of 262 among 50 to 60 families. The settlement was in the process of incorporating at that time. A petition to incorporate was submitted January 22, 1799 requesting the name of "China." for the town. On February 21, 1800, the New Pennacook Plantation was incorporated as the District of Maine’s 123rd town with papers handed down specifying the name as "Rumford." There have been several accounts of how the town received the name of Rumford. None have been proven.

In the 1780s a saw mill was build and log houses began to disappear as wood frame houses replaced them. Twenty-two miles of road were built and more land was being farmed.
There soon were three ferries to help people cross the river, as there were no bridges. The first Post Office opened at Rumford Point in 1815 and another in Rumford Center in 1825. Post riders delivered mail to Rumford. The population was 1,100 with 413 children in school.
By 1850 the population was 1,375, in 1880 it was 1,006 and in 1890 it was 898. Many moved West for new land. Many caught the "gold fever" and went to California. The Civil War also took a toll.

Information from A History of Rumford, Maine 1744 –1972 by John J. Leane, Sept 1972.

From the Rumford Directory of 1944:

RUMFORD TOWN CLOCK - The Municipal Building was completed in 1916, with room left for a tower to be added. Due to the generosity of the Hon. Waldo Pettengill, the clock and tower were installed in 1921. The directory continues with "When the boys and girls come home the clock will again be lighted at night in celebration and because of their sacrifices the lights go on all over the world." p.140.
SOLDIER’S MONUMENT AT RUMFORD CENTER - A monument dedicated to the memory of those who served in the Civil War from area towns (Rumford, Andover, Hanover and Mexico) was made possible by efforts of the veterans of the Joseph E. Colby Post, Grand Army of the Republic. A combination of insurance money, subscriptions and town appropriated funds made this monument possible. It was built on donated land in Rumford Center near Route 2 and was dedicated on May 21, 1921.
U. S. POST OFFICE - The first Post Office in Rumford was opened January 12, 1815 near Rumford Point, named Rumford Falls Post Office. It was removed to Rumford Center on June 9, 1849, then it was moved to 105 Congress Street in 1892. The present Post Office was built in 1917, renamed Rumford Post Office.
THE LISTED CEMETERIES were: Sunnyside, Wyman Hill, Rumford Center, Abbott’s Mills, Rumford Corner, R. P., East side of Ellis River, St. John’s Catholic.

Rumford is located in an area of great natural beauty. The Androscoggin River drops 177 feet in one mile at Pennacook Falls creating impressive water power. In 1882, the industrialist Hugh Chisholm, a Portland businessman born in Chippewa, Ontario, first envisioned the development of this power to make paper. Not only was water power available, but there was wood for pulp and water for processing. Waldo Pettengill, of Rumford, assisted Hugh Chisholm with purchasing property along the falls. August 26, 1890 was the date Rumford Falls Power Company was organized. The first paper was manufactured in Rumford on July 12, 1893. Other corporations followed. Soon Chisholm had a vision of a larger paper mill for the production of fine quality papers. This resulted in the formation of Oxford Paper Company. After new construction, the first paper was made in December 1901. From 1890 until 1910, Rumford grew and the population grew with the addition of many immigrants finding work here. They came from places in Italy, Lithuania, Canada and many other countries.
New Page Mill

Today the local economy is largely driven by the pulp and paper, wood products, and lumbering industries that grew from Mr. Chisholm’s early ventures. The large Catalyst Rumford Mill is the largest employer in the area.
Rumford from across the river

Rumford has had a few famous citizens:
William Wallace Kimball (b. 03/22/1828) went to Iowa and organized an insurance company and later moved to Chicago where he started the Kimball Piano Company in 1857. He died in 1904 and was buried in Chicago.
Frank Churchill, Academy Award-winning composer-songwriter & Disney Legend, was born October 20, 1901 in Rumford, Maine. His music can be heard in such classics as Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Bambi. Some of his best known songs include "Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?," "Whistle While You Work," and "Some Day My Prince Will Come."
Rumford is the birthplace of Edmund S. Muskie, Governor of Maine (1954-1958), U. S. Senator from Maine (1959-1980) and U. S. Secretary of State during the Carter Administration (1980-1981).
Carmello Joseph Puiia built the first cable TV system in Maine in 1952 on Sugarloaf Mountain in Dixfield. He also started State Cable TV, Inc. in Augusta in 1956.
Also of interest:
Edward "Sandy" Ives has written an article "’The Only Man’: Skill and Bravado on the River–Drive" in Maine History Vol 41, No. 1 in which he mentions David Severy, the only man to ride the Rumford Falls sluice in the early 20th century.

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Some Rumford Data:

In 1777 there was one white inhabitant of New Pennacook Plantation - Jonathan Keyes. The first child born was the son of Benjamin Lufkin August 15, 1788.

Rumford Town Managers (information from Town Clerk's Office)
1918 - 1926	No town manager
1927 - 1931	Bion F. Jose
1932	Carl H. Bishoff
1933	Oliver H. Pettengill
1934 - 1937	Bion F. Jose
1938 - 1940	Arthur L. Dow
1941 - 1948	J. Merton Wyman
1949 - 1955	Fred I. Howard
1956 - 1970	Leo Morency
11/06/1970	Harrison Burns acting manager when Leo Morency resigns.
1971 - 1977	Daniel C. MacDonald II
1978 - 1985	Robert L. Noe
1986 - 1991	John E. Madigan
1992 - 2004	Robert E. Welch
2005 - 2006	Stephen Eldridge
2006 - 2007	James Doar
2007 - 2008	Len Greaney
2009 - 2013	Carlo Puiia
2013 - present	Interim Town Manager

Population Profile (from Leane’s History of Rumford)
1777 ***** 1	1794 ***** 96 (est.)
1798 ***** 178 (est.)	1800 ***** 262
1810 ***** 629	1820 ***** 871
1825 ***** 1,100	1850 ***** 1,375
1880 ***** 1,006	1890 ***** 898

Summary of Snowfall at Rumford Maine in Inches for October to May 1934 - 1978
1934 - 1935 ***** Total: 115.7	1935 - 1936 ***** Total: 119.1
1936 - 1937 ***** Total: 78.40	1937 - 1938 ***** Total: 73.60
1938 - 1939 ***** Total: 136.30	1939 - 1940 ***** Total: 91.0
1940 - 1941 ***** Total: 75.2	1941 - 1942 ***** Total: 80.40
1942 - 1943 ***** Total: 82.80	1943 - 1944 ***** Total: 99.50
1944 - 1945 ***** Total: 102.1	1945 - 1946 ***** Total: 93.6
1946 - 1947 ***** Total: 103.1	1947 - 1948 ***** Total: 87.4
1948 - 1949 ***** Total: 66.2	1949 - 1950 ***** Total: 125.9
1950 - 1951 ***** Total: 76.6	1951 - 1952 ***** Total: 135.8
1952 - 1953 ***** Total: 75.4	1953 - 1954 ***** Total: 103.7
1954 - 1955 ***** Total: 87.7	1955 - 1956 ***** Total: 87.3
1956 - 1957 ***** Total: 95.9	1957 - 1958 ***** Total: 108.0
1958 - 1959 ***** Total: 74.4	1959 - 1960 ***** Total: 97.7
1960 - 1961 ***** Total: 58.1	1961 - 1962 ***** Total: 118.2
1962 - 1963 ***** Total: 115.3	1963 - 1964 ***** Total: 77.6
1964 - 1965 ***** Total: 57.5	1965 - 1966 ***** Total: 89.0
1966 - 1967 ***** Total: 77.0	1967 - 1968 ***** Total: 64.2
1968 - 1969 ***** Total: 158.2	1969 - 1970 ***** Total: 81.0
1970 - 1971 ***** Total: 129.5	1971 - 1972 ***** Total: 107.1
1972 - 1973 ***** Total: 94.3	1973 - 1974 ***** Total: 52.61
1974 - 1975 ***** Total: 82.25	1975 - 1976 ***** Total: 96.0
1976 - 1977 ***** Total: 91.3