Oxford had a library of sorts as far back as 1873. Freeland Holmes left Oxford in 1849 to go to San Francisco as an "argonaut" and businessman. In 1870 he passed away in Oxford and bequeathed a fund of $500 to be matched by the town to purchase books and establish a library. It was located in an area of the George H. Jones Drug Store on Pleasant Street. It was there, in the back of the store, that the books were kept for circulation. The library existed there for 40 years.

During the summer of 1910, Mrs. M. F. Hitchings, manager of a local hotel called the Oxford Spring House, worked with a local women`s club, the Hersey Guild, on an idea of opening a reading room in the village. She suggested a concert as a fund raiser. The concert was such a success that even Governor Bert M. Fernald sent a donation. The Christian Endeavor Society donated use of the chapel for the reading room, which was open one afternoon and two evenings a week. It continued for two years, when interest in an actual building took off.

In 1912, Kate Starbird, the first telephone operator in Oxford, began her project of providing the town with a library building. Working with the Hersey Guild, Mrs. Starbird proposed that the Guild raise a mile of dimes. Mrs. G. T. Elliot of the Cape in Otisfield made the first donation.

A site for the library was found that fall when the old blacksmith shop on Main Street burned. Cyrus S. Hayes, owner of the lot, donated it to the library association. The Hayes Reading Room, in the old part of the library, was named to commemorate his gift.

That same year, 1912, Mrs. Florence Holmes King, a descendant of Freeland Holmes, died in Portland leaving $500 for the library. Fundraising now continued in earnest with Miss M. I. Corning of Connecticut, a summer resident at Highfields, submitting architectural plans by Harry Olmste. In July of 1913, A. W. Walker and Son of South Paris was hired to begin construction at a cost of $3000. Miss Corning made up the deficiency in funds. Contributions were also made by Oxford residents, summer residents, and other people with ties to our small community.

The building was completed on December 1, 1913 and the work of moving into the library began. Volunteers, led by Mrs. Starbird, cleaned and fumigated the books and took them on hand sleds to the new building. More than twenty women spent several days repairing books, pasting labels, and adding book plates and pockets to books. The librarian found numbering by the Dewey Decimal System tiring, but there was no money to pay for trained services so she did it herself. The library was dedicated on February 9, 1914.

Kate Starbird served as librarian of the Freeland Holmes Library from the opening in 1914 until 1952. It is in her memory that her daughter, Marguerite Starbird Lunt, and her husband, Everett Lunt, left the money in her will to the library. It is a gift which became the seed money for the addition to the library. The trustees of the library allowed the gift to collect interest for a number of years, and then decided to go ahead and double the size of the library for this generation and generations to come. It is in the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Lunt that the new addition, the Everett and Marguerite Starbird Lunt Wing, was dedicated on October 24, 1998. At this time, the Reference Area of the library was also dedicated to the Robinson Family. John B. Robinson was one of the library`s original benefactors. Through the years, Robinson Manufacturing Company has provided major support to the library. The capital campaign was led by trustee, George Robinson, with additional financial support from all members of the Robinson family. This project also would not have been possible without the support of so many local contributions.