At a special Town Meeting convened on July 25, 1905, the town’s citizens voted to accept the gift of Morris K. Jesup for a plot of land on State Street (Post Road East) and the sum of $5,000 to support a new library building.  Mr. Jesup had specified that “The Library shall be called ‘The Westport Library,’ I to have the privilege at any time after its erection, to place upon its interior walls such tablet or tablets as I may select, to commemorate the memory of my ancestors, who have had so much to do with Westport and its neighborhood in past years.”

Mr. Jesup had two bronze plaques manufactured in Providence, Rhode Island.  These were placed over the mantelpieces in the reading room and in the room devoted to children’s books in the 1908 building.  The first plaque in memory of his paternal grandfather reads:
Ebenezer Jesup Born 1767 – died 1851 – A Prominent Citizen – A promoter of Education – A Christian Gentleman – This Library is erected on the spot where he conducted a successful business for many years.

The second, in memory of his maternal grandfather reads:
Samuel Burr Sherwood – Born 1767 – Died 1833 – Graduate of Yale College – A Lawyer – Represented the Town of Fairfield, Connecticut, in the Legislature for Several Years – Member of the House of Representatives of the Fifteenth Congress.

These placques are now mounted on the staircase between the first and second floor of the Westport Public Library.