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History |
The Bishop Memorial Library is used as a meeting room space and is a venue for library programs. There are additional library offices on the lower lever. The building was constructed in 1941 as a public library for Toms River,
using the accrued assets of Nathaniel Holmes
Bishop III, a local author and cranberry-grower.
Mr. Bishop moved to Ocean County from Massachusetts
after the Civil War and as an author and sportsman,
became known for his books about the Barnegat
Bay sneak box and his travels in a "paper
canoe". Both Bishop and his wife, Mary
Ball, advocated the founding of a public library
for Toms River and provided in their wills for
the purchase of land and subsequent design of
a spacious brick Georgian building. Since the
library opened, it has served both the local
citizens and those of the county when Dover
Township, now Toms River Township, joined the Ocean County Library system
in the 1970s. The Bishop Memorial Library underwent a full renovation completed in 2009. The beautiful chandelier, made of brass and rose-colored glass, that hangs in the main room was donated to the library by the Toms River Yacht Club.
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