Stephen & Tabitha King back Bangor’s library with $3M, challenging others to invest in knowledge, access & the town’s cultural heart.
When most people think of Stephen King, the images that come to mind tend to involve haunted hotels, malevolent clowns, or eerie towns in rural Maine. But, unbeknownst to many, in 2013, King and his wife Tabitha made headlines for something entirely different: a multi-million-dollar pledge to support the Bangor Public Library in their hometown. Instead of tales of fear and horror, this story was about preservation, community, and the future of a cherished institution.
What Was the Pledge?
Way back in March 2013, King and Tabitha promised to donate $3 million to Bangor Public Library’s refurbishment campaign. However, the pledge wasn’t just an outright grant; it came with a condition.
The library needed to raise the remaining $6 million of its $9 million target, and if it succeeded, the Kings would provide the final third. In philanthropy terms, that kind of offer is known as a challenge gift, designed to encourage others to step up.
The Bangor Public Library had launched the campaign to renovate and modernize its historic building. Like many libraries across the United States, it faced the challenge of balancing its traditional role as a repository of books with newer functions such as providing internet access, hosting community programs, and supporting digital literacy.
The funds were intended to repair and update the building, making it safer, more accessible, and more adaptable to modern needs.
How Challenge Gifts Work
The structure of the King’s pledge is worth noting. By offering $3 million contingent on the success of the broader $9 million campaign, they effectively set a challenge. This approach has several advantages. It motivates other potential donors, as they have reason to believe that their gift will actually help.
It also provides this idea of shared ownership, avoiding the perception that the library is reliant on just one donor. By encouraging participation from others, King is bringing the community together. Not only that, though, a donation like this reflects a philosophy that major donations should be a catalyst rather than a substitute for community support.
A Couple With Deep Pockets
This wasn’t the first time the Kings had backed the Bangor Public Library. Their support for the institution goes back decades. In the 1990s, the couple had donated $2.5 million toward a new wing for the library. They also once contributed enough money to replace the library’s marble front steps when they had become dangerously worn. These earlier gestures helped establish the Kings as long-standing patrons of the institution, and the 2013 pledge only reinforced that ongoing commitment.
Library director Barbara McDade described the couple as “wonderful supporters,” acknowledging both their financial contributions and the visibility that came with their involvement. After all, who doesn’t want to read in Stephen King’s favorite library?
Stephen King’s Love of Libraries
Stephen King’s fondness for libraries comes from personal experience. As he has shared in essays and interviews, libraries were an essential part of his childhood. Growing up in a family without much money, he relied on libraries as places where he could read as much as he wanted without cost. To King, libraries were gateways to knowledge, imagination, and opportunity.
But they weren’t all wonder and joy… Stephen King once admitted that, as a boy, he actually often found libraries intimidating. He described the “dark stacks,” the stern librarians, and the fear of being locked in after hours. Yet despite that early trepidation, his relationship with libraries blossomed into something enduring and positive, not just for him, but for all the people of Bangor.
This personal history helps explain why he and Tabitha saw the Bangor Public Library as a cause worth championing. For King, libraries were not abstract civic buildings but lived experiences, places that had directly shaped his development as a writer and a reader.
The Importance of Public Libraries
The Kings’ pledge underscored the precarious position of many libraries in the United States. Public libraries are frequently underfunded, yet they provide vital services such as literacy support, free internet access, safe public spaces, and community programming for people of all ages.
In smaller cities like Bangor, the library often functions as a hub of civic life. Ensuring that the building is modern, safe, and accessible is about more than just aesthetics; it directly affects the ability of residents to use and benefit from the services offered.
The refurbishment campaign was an attempt to prepare the Bangor Public Library for the future. By modernizing the space, it could remain relevant in a digital age and continue serving as a vital resource for the community.
Reactions in Bangor
At the time of the announcement, local leaders and library staff expressed excitement and gratitude. McDade, the library director, emphasized the Kings’ long history of support, and plenty of residents recognized that without such a generous pledge, the campaign might struggle to reach its ambitious target.
The announcement also drew international media attention, in part because of King’s celebrity. Stories about library funding rarely make even national headlines, but attaching the name of one of the world’s most successful authors brought unusual visibility to Bangor’s effort.
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Millie Ramm
Millie has been writing since she was a child, and has spent more time with her nose in books than anywhere else. She has been ghostwriting novels and editing for the past few years, and when not working she is curled up with her cats, looking for her next read.
