The New Cumberland Library is housed in the 1819 historic Benjamin House in the Hillside School neighborhood. Close to downtown New Cumberland, the Library sits within a 2.5 acre park and is home to a large collection of library materials and resources for all ages. The Library provides free Wifi inside and outside of the building, public access computers, and printing and copying services for the public. Our youth services department offers a wide variety of programming and services for children ages 0-18 and their families. We also offer a wide variety of exciting adult programs throughout the year. We hope that the New Cumberland Public Library will be a place you visit regularly!
History of the New Cumberland Public Library
The library was established in 1941 by the Civic Club of New Cumberland. In 1965, the borough assumed financial responsibility and made it a department of the borough government, moving it into one room of the borough building on Seventh Street. After five expansion moves within the building and a mobile unit added outside as a Children’s Room, the Library Board began seeking a separate building for the library.
In 1968, Mr. and Mrs. Roland Benjamin donated their home and 2 ½ acres of surrounding property to the borough for a library upon their deaths or retirement to Florida. In 1974, the Benjamins died within ten days of each other and the mansion became borough property.
Shortly thereafter, the renovation and addition to the Benjamin Mansion into a public library was chosen as New Cumberland’s Bi-Centennial Project. With the help of a $100,000 grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , a matching grant from the Quentin Berg Foundation, and donations from the public and the L.B. Smith Cultural Foundation monies, the New Cumberland Public Library in the Benjamin Mansion was dedicated July 4,1976.
In 2002, the Keystone grant from Commonwealth Libraries, bequests from the Edward A. McRoberts estate, Patricia D. Anderson estate, and many community supporters enabled the library to expand to its present size. A teen area, audiovisual materials area, and a new storytime area were added.
