Osceola Library and the William E. Brown Memorial
Osceola Library is named for the famed leader of Seminole resistance to Indian removal policies of the early 19th century. The building was Waterville’s schoolhouse twice: once when it was built with money raised in 1885, and again from 1968 until the new elementary school opened in 1974. Waterville was settled in two locations about four miles apart and had two school districts. In 1836 one district had a schoolhouse and eighteen students, while the other had six students and met in a private home.
In the early 1900s, with the farming families and their children gone, this building served as the town hall. It was located near the present intersection of Rt. 49 and Village Road, which leads to Town Square.
The building was moved to its current location in 1955. When the Waterville Inn, which contained a library, burned in 1967, this building became the town library.
A memorial stone near the library commemorates the life of William E. Brown, a guide in Waterville in the 1880s. In addition to his valued service as a guide, he gathered spruce gum as an occupation. The gum was chewed and used on skin injuries and could also serve as a sealant. He had served as a member of the 18th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War and had only one arm. He died in 1885 in Waterville, age 40 and single, and was buried in Campton. His father, William G. Brown, had worked for the New Hampshire Bible Society and was known as “The Bible Man.” He distributed an estimated 100,000 copies of the Bible throughout the state over 43 years.
The inscription reads
TO KEEP GREEN
THE MEMORY OF
WM E. BROWN
A FAITHFUL MOUNTAIN GUIDE
A BRAVE SOLDIER
A MANLY CHRISTIAN
1885
ERECTED BY THE GUESTS
Waterville Valley Historical Society
wvhistorybuffs@gmail.com
