Vergennes Historic Walking Tour 2024 - Manual / Resource - Page 19
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BIXBY MEMORIAL FREE LIBRARY
258 Main Street
This grand library building was a present to Vergennes and its neighboring towns from William Gove
Bixby (1829-1907). Bixby worked in his father’s downtown hardware business, owned several
manufacturing enterprises in the city and had investments in water companies, banks, bonds, cattle
and sheep. He was a well-to-do bachelor who inherited more wealth from his sister, who had married
a successful Chicago hotel operator. He was known to be fond of
