Mrs. Johnson was a native of Jaffrey and a graduate of Conant High School and the Keene Normal School. The wife of Stephen Roosevelt Johnson and, mother of five sons, she taught school in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Upon her retirement she returned to Jaffrey with a vision for an “open center for activities of a cultural and historical nature.”

She then founded and financed the Jaffrey-Gilmore Foundation whose main purpose was to “provide a community center for educational and artistic purposes.”

The beautiful large brick building at 40 Main Street was designed by architect John Bradford Abbott and opened its doors to the community in 1966.

Thanks to her foresight, the Civic Center has, for over 40 years, been a focal point of cultural activity for the Monadnock Region.