Cows schools and crappers Tyler Free Library is a small place. Not very many books and not a lot of the usual CD's, audio books. movies or computers. Everything is sort of cramped but quaint. More than five people in this building is probably a crowd. But what it lacks in size and resources this library more than makes up for in coolness and history. The Tyler Free Library was opened in 1900 after Casey Tyler donated a collection 2,000 books. The diminutive library slowly continued to grow until by 1925 it had over 5,000 books. Still not a whole lot, I know people that have that many books in private houses. The library continue to serve the small community of Moosup Valley not only as a place to get books but also as a gathering place. Town meetings, social events, and I suspect a great deal of gossip went on here. By the 1960's it became obvious that the tiny place needed some more room so they moved the entire building across the street and built an addition to attached it to the old school house that was no longer in use. The children's department of the library is now housed in the original school house building that was built way back in 1811. Pretty cool Walking around the library is a strange experience as you literally go into three different buildings within 20 feet. There even is a small room on the outside that I suspect was the original outhouse. Not sure what they put in it now because it was locked. The librarian was very friendly and loved talking to me about the library. Of course she had the time because it wasn't exactly crowded. The Tyler Free Library is a very special place. You can get books here and the librarian probably knows everything and everybody in this small town. But the real value of this place in it's history. The past just oozed from it's walls and you can feel it with every step. New libraries are great with their rows of computers and vast number of books but libraries like Tyler are quite literally irreplaceable. read more

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