Our Library

​Nestled below Shatterack Mountain near the scenic Westfield River, the Russell Public Library serves the Russell community and folks from the surrounding hilltowns. 

The Town of Russell, originally part of the "New Addition" section of Westfield was incorporated into a town in 1792.  The early settlement was around Hazard Pond (now known as Russell Pond) with small grist mills, tanneries and saw mills making use of plentiful water.

 

In 1841 the railroad came through the Berkshire Hills, changing the makeup of Russell forever.  The town developed into three distinct villages joined by the Westfield River, Woronoco, home of the Strathmore Paper Mills, Russell Village, site of charcoal and brick kilns and eventually the site of Westfield River Paper Company and Crescent Mills, home of Chapin and Gould Paper  (Texon).  The railroad made industrial access to tremendous waterpower possible.  Russell changed from a small isolated agrarian community with small lumber and grist mills to a prosperous town with many jobs.  

 

The early settlement near Hazard Pond has survived only as a ghost of what it once was.  Woronoco was a "company town" planned and owned by the Strathmore Paper Company, owner Horace Moses. New immigrants to the United States settled where there were jobs and Russell had steady work to offer at its three paper mills.

 

The three mills operated in Russell until the 1990s.The Strathmore Paper Company, which produced high end art paper closed permanently in the 1990s after International Paper shut it down. The Westfield River Paper Company in Russell, stopped operating in 1994. Texon International closed its paper mill in Russell, in December 2012. These mill closings shrunk the  economic base and population of the town.  However there is a sense of community that still exists in its support for the Russell Public Library.

 

The Russell Public Library was housed in the Russell town hall until after the flood of 1955. In 1966 it was moved to its current location in the former Russell School at 162 Main Street. Here the library has three spacious rooms, one for adult fiction, one for the children’s section and one for nonfiction which also serves as a community meeting space for library talks and activities. Russell’s History Room is housed in the library, making it easy for collaboration between the two.

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