Kent Memorial Library on Main Street is a true center of community activity. In 1897 Sidney Albert Kent, a Suffield native who had returned from Chicago, offered the town a fine new building to be placed on his ancestral land across the green. The building, the first Kent Memorial Library, was dedicated in 1899. When plans for building a new library were made in the 1960's, some of the funds were raised by selling the old building to Suffield Academy to use as its library. The new Kent Memorial Library was rededicated in its new location, at the head of Mountain Road, in 1972. Warren Platner Associates, a world-renowned architectural firm, designed the library. The library has an area of over 14,000 square feet. In addition to the book stacks, the library has a 70-seat auditorium, separate children's room, the Spencer Historical Room housing an outstanding collection of early Suffield and Connecticut books and manuscripts, and an outside courtyard. The building interior is a series of light and airy, yet warm and intimate book-walled spaces arranged around the garden court. The exterior of the building continues to evoke strong and varying opinions from residents and visitors alike as to its aesthetic qualities and whether it fits the character of the town.

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