One of the first towns created following the Revolution, Northfield was granted in 1780 from part of Canterbury. The town organized one of the first local libraries, called the Northfield Improving Society for the Promotion of Useful Knowledge, the same title used in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. The library was chartered by the state in 1718, operating with a membership fee of $5 annually, and continued in existence under the original name until 1842.
