Featherston’s community library, located on Fitzherbert Street, has been in continual use by its patrons since it was first constructed and opened in 1896 as the Featherston Library Institute. It has both historical and social significance as a longstanding part of the central hub of the Featherston community. The building also has architectural significance in keeping with the Featherston Courthouse which sits beside it.

The first Māori arrivals settled in Palliser Bay in the late 1300s. Later arrivals were Ngāti Ira, Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu; Ngāti Ira later relocated to Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington, while Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu forged a largely peaceable co-existence in Wairarapa, with conflict tempered by intermarriage. The region was invaded on a number of occasions, in the early 1820s by Ngāti Whātua and Ngāti Maniapoto, and from the mid-1820s through the following decade by Taranaki tribes, in particular Te Āti Awa. Rangitāne people found a temporary safe haven in the Puketoi and Tararua mountain ranges, while Ngāti Kahungunu made a series of migrations north. Ngāti Kahungunu returned for good in the early 1840s when peace was made with Te Āti Awa. In 1844 Pākehā settlers leased grazing land off Ngāti Kahungunu and brought the first sheep and cattle into the region. The first colonial land sales occurred in 1853, including the Ōwhanga block, on which the future town of Featherston would be founded. The town was surveyed in 1856.

The township prospered and Alfred Matthews of Waiorongomai gifted the land and library to the Borough of Featherston. He was known as one of the ‘best known and most popular’ residents in the Wairarapa. He held a number of important posts in the community, including that of Chairman of the Featherston Road Board, and as a member of the Wairarapa South County Council. The library was opened ‘with great éclat’ on 30 April 1896. There were an initial 83 subscribers. Matthew’s generous gift of both land and building enabled the library to open debt-free. The first librarian appointed was Mr D Fry.

The weatherboard building was constructed with a hipped roof and two bays on the front elevation. The two main gables above the bays had decorative timber trusses, a design echoed by a smaller gable with the same truss design over the portico, which is itself was held in place by a regular arrangement of timber supports. Both bays had a set of windows on the front elevation, each comprised of three single hung windows with a six-paned, segmented, pentagonal light feature set above each. Accessible access to the interior was provided by a ramp with rail extending to the right of the building to the portico. There was a clock fixed to the top of the portico.

The Country Library Service van called in at the Featherston Library four times a year to exchange books. Originally there was a separate ‘Ladies’ Reading Room’ but a fire in 1971 did ‘a lot of damage’ and the front rooms were merged into an open plan space and the fireplaces were removed. In 1997 the library was set up with computers and 2000 brought new changes when the library took on the additional role of Council Service Centre. In 2001 it became amalgamated into the Wairarapa Library Service. Further alterations were undertaken in 2003 comprising extensions to office space to the east and west, to provide for a kitchenette facility on the east elevation, and more space for storage and work stations. Some interior walls were also removed and a new accessible bathroom created.