Founded in 1882 by George F. Sanborn, the Meredith Public Library moved to several temporary sites around the village in its early years.

In 1901 Benjamin M. Smith donated his memorial library building. Mr. Smith was a resident of Meredith Village in the 1850s and '60s and later he became a successful hosiery salesman along the North Shore of Massachusetts and used some of his life savings to build the library "in remembrance of the years lived so pleasantly" in Meredith.

Mr. Smith's original $10,000 library with its brick walls and slate roof was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Terracotta is used for the egg and dart detailing of the pilaster caps and eave frieze.

Both the building name and date appear in raised granite letters and a carved book ornates the keystone above the entrance. An addition to the building, completed in 1988, employs the same materials as the original building, and its two-story, arched gable window echoes the main entry arch.