William Widgery Thomas, Jr. (1839-1927) stands outside the Spurwink District School in Cape Elizabeth. The school, erected in 1849, is where Thomas taught in 1857. It closed in 1913 due to low attendance rates and sold. In 1917, Thomas bought the building and transformed it into Thomas Memorial Library.

Thomas was a politician and diplomat from Maine, known for founding the town of New Sweden in Northern Maine. He traveled to Sweden and brought back a colony of Swedes to create the town in 1880.