Chronology

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1. Antebellum and Civil War · 1800–1865

2. February–December 1822
   Founding or opening · Hillsborough The Franklin Library Society is organized in Hillsborough and chartered by the General Assembly

   Young men of Hillsborough met at the Academy on the evening of February 7, 1822, to form a society for the promotion of learning and cultivation of virtue; the call named it the Young Men's Library and Debating Society, and by the end of the year it was the Franklin Library Society. A bill to incorporate it was presented in the House of Commons on December 9, and the General Assembly incorporated it that December, giving it the power to hold property, sue and be sued, and make its own bylaws.

3. December 1825
   Law, policy or court · Hillsborough The House of Commons postpones the Franklin Library Society's request for a book lottery

   Hillsborough's Franklin Library Society asked the General Assembly for leave to raise up to three thousand dollars by lottery to buy useful books for its library. The petition, signed December 14, 1825 by the society's officers including librarian Thomas C. Palmer, was read in the House of Commons on December 23 and indefinitely postponed.

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Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated October 4, 2026.