[Thanks to Linda Smith for transcribing this chapter]
CHAPTER L.
Ventress Memorial Gift.
Mr. Seth Ventress, a native of Marshfield, Mass., a bachelor, and the founder of Ventress Memorial Building, pursued the occupation of a mason most of his life, and accumulated quite a small fortune in that business in the city of Boston. He left by his will at his decease the sum of ten thousand dollars to the town of Marshfield near the close of the 19th century, the sum to remain in trust until the interest thereon amounted to $2000, at which time the principal, $10,000, was to be spent in erecting a suitable building for the town's use, which was to include suitable rooms for a Free Public Library, and the accumulated $2000 interest to be spent in the purchase of books for the library.
In about five years after the amount of the bequest was put to interest, the building was erected on its present site, near the Marshfield Agricultural and Horticultural Society grounds, on land purchased of Franklin W. Hatch. It is a wooden structure, modern in style, and finished within to suit the wants and needs of the town. Well equipped library rooms are arranged on the first floor; the upper floor was finished for a Town Hall and furnished with seats. The town officers' rooms are on the first floor. A High school room capable of seating forty or more was finished and is occupied by the High school.
In the basement there is a "Lock-up," so called, two cells, made of brick, with iron grating doors, for the safe, temporary keeping of criminals. A large brick vault was also built for the preservation of the town's funds and valuable documents. A short time after the building was erected, the town, at a town meeting, voted to move from the old