Friend Memorial Library to double in size, house Marine Research Center

By Jennifer Osborn May 13, 2026 Ellsworth American

The 2,000-square-foot Friend Memorial Library, snuggled into a 1912 Colonial Revival building in Brooklin, broke ground April 29 on an expansion, which will double its space.

Elliott Architects designed the expansion, which will feature a reading room, a dedicated children’s room as well as a multi-use space called the Maritime Research Center, said Library Director Catherine Nevin. Chris Pickering’s Blue Ledge Carpentry is the general contractor.

“We’ve really just outgrown the space we have now,” said Nevin. “We’ll have space for people to just come in and read.”

The library, like most libraries today, is a hub of community activity aside from the checking out and returning of materials. There is a fiber arts group that meets weekly as well as a quilting group. There are arts activities for children, book clubs, a camera club and Mah Jongg.

Robert Baird, who is chair of the capital campaign committee, said $3 million has been raised to date with $1 million to go. You can go online to donate, Baird said, at www.campaign.friendml.org.

“We’ve had an enormous amount of support,” Baird said. “One of the big things that we’ve been trying to push is to get the building started so that people could see good faith in what they’ve contributed. We’re really excited about the building. It’s going to be an amazing asset for Brooklin and the community.”

In providing details about the Marine Research Center, Baird said the library approached WoodenBoat founder Jon Wilson, who had retained his research library when he sold the company, about donating it to Friend Memorial. It’s fitting for the town, which has had a history of building boats since 1793, according to the Brooklin Keeping Society.

“He generously offered that collection with the intent to keep it in Brooklin,” Baird said. “That’s the basis of the Maritime Research Center.”

“Since that came about, Benjamin Mendlowitz [Calendar of Wooden Boats photographer] donated all of his slide collection, over 150,000 images,”’ Baird said. “As the research center gets operational and growing, there’s the possibility of other collections coming to the library.”

The research center is named the Anne and Maynard Bray Marine Research Center after Maynard, who is technical editor for WoodenBoat Magazine, and his late wife Anne. Maynard also writes all the captions for the Calendar of Wooden Boats.

Elliott Architects also designed the last expansion project in 2000 when a “structurally unsound 1950s addition” was replaced with 1,400 square feet of “well-ordered space,” according to a project description. Jon D. Woodward & Sons handled that construction.

If you’re ever in Friend Memorial and feel like you’re on a boat, that could be because a local boat builder built the circulation desk during the 2000 project.

Baird, who has had a long career in historic preservation, including restoration of the dome of the U.S. Capitol Building, oversaw construction of the Friend Memorial’s signature classic columns at the front entrance.