H. Beecher. The building was begun in June, 1884 and opened in the fall of 1886.
    The Seymour Public Library owes much to C.B. Wooster and the brothers H.P. and E. Day. Mr. Wooster died in 1914 and left an endowment of more than $55,000 for a library.
    At the same time, the Day brothers gave the town a site located near the present site of the Seymour Congregational Church and promised enough money to build an equip a suitable library. The gift was made on condition that the town obtain land overlooking the falls and turn it into a public park. This was to assure that the proposed library would always have a beautiful location.
    By special town meeting action on September 3, 1914, the town accepted the gift and agreed to purchase the park land. The library had previously been housed on the second floor of a town-owned building on Second Street, whose first floor was then used as the town court.
    The library continued at the Day brothers' location until the flood of August, 1955, when it was destroyed. The library was temporarily housed at the Civil Defense headquarters location, while the new library was constructed at its present site on Church Street.
    Although the library has moved, the town still owns the park area by the falls, where the replica of the old covered bridge now stands opposite the Congregational Church.
    Edmund Day was a staunch Union supporter during the Civil War - which was a time of high sentiment and great controversy in Seymour. The following statement from Sharpe's Seymour Past and Present illustrates Day's commitment to the cause:
    "Mr. Day was one of the most prominent in local endeavor on the side of the Union in the early years of the War of the Rebellion, and in the first year of the war, when local sympathizers with the South threatened to burn the property of the Union men, he obtained a grant of arms from the state, and had them brought here so quietly that the first of his opponents knew of the move was when the weapons were seen in the hands of men who were patrolling the streets at night. The leader of the pro slavery party was notified that if any buildings were burned he would be held personally responsible The result was as intended, and there was no further talk of destroying the property of the upholders of the Union."