Welcome to our Digital Heritage collection!
The Lucius Beebe Memorial Librarys Digital Heritage collection presents historical photographs, books, and other printed materials relating the history of our community.
The town of Wakefield, Massachusetts is a community of 24,664 residents approximately 10 miles north of Boston. Wakefield was settled as Lynn Village in 1638 and was incorporated as Wakefield in 1868. Wakefield covers 7.9 square miles and has two bodies of water: Lake Quannapowitt and Crystal Lake. Wakefield has an open town meeting and is governed by an elected Board of Selectmen.
Featured Exhibit
Wakefield's First Baptist Church
Wakefield's beautiful Italianate First Baptist Church, with its 180 foot spire, stood on the common for almost 150 years until it was destroyed by a tragic fire in 2018.
Featured Collection
Wakefield Then and Now Photo Contests : 2010 and 2011
Beebe Library’s “Wakefield Then & Now” photo contest asked entrants to select a historic photo of Wakefield and go out and take a matching photo of the same location today. This collection includes the original images and corresponding entries from the 2010 contest. The Beebe Memorial Library's second annual "Then and Now Contest" was held during the spring of 2011. Entrants in this digital photo contest were asked entrants to select an historic photo of Wakefield and to take a matching photo of the same location today. As an added twist to this year's event, however, the photographers then created a "mash-up" of the two images. This collection includes all submissions to the 2011 contest.