This painting depicts the East Branch of the Lexington Library in the late 1800s. Opened in 1883 and originally housed in the reading room of the Adams School, the library’s popularity soon led it to seek out larger quarters. In 1891, Ellen Stone offered the Stone Building – constructed by her grandfather Eli Robbins – to the trustees of the library for $2,000, along with a half-acre of land adjoining Follen Church, which can be seen in the background of this painting. A Greek Revival-style structure which had originally served as a private school, a meeting hall and the East Lexington Lyceum, the Stone Building had also hosted such notable speakers as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Theodore Parker. The Stone Building housed the East Lexington Branch Library until 2007 when a burst pipe caused extensive damage and the building was closed indefinitely for repairs.