History of the Centralia Public Library In 1899, amid a developing social and cultural climate, a small group of ladies joined together to form the Mid-Week Club, a literary club for book study and intellectual enrichment. They subscribed to various traveling libraries. In January 1901, unhappy with the quality and type of books, the club voted not to order a traveling library and decided to develop another source. (All newspaper pictures on this page are courtesy of the Centralia Fireside Guard) According to Mid-Week records, they formed a committee in 1901 to locate a room in which to start a public library. A year and a half later, the club secured an upstairs room in the old City Hall. The club gave a tea.  Admission to the tea was a gift of a book or books that were used to start the new library. Fifty volumes of "good literature" were donated by a former citizen, Mr. Ed. Denham living in Montana, for which the club paid the freight costs. Donations were solicited from citizens in the community. A set of The New Americanized Encyclopedia was ordered on approval in January 1903 and kept after reviewed in February by Mr. Pool, Mr. Hope and three local ministers. Members were assessed $1.00 each which would be used to establish a library fund. Mrs. Anna Willis, a Mid-Week Club member, was hired as the first librarian. In old Centralia council records, we read; "November 3, 1903--The ladies of the Mid-Week Club, through their representatives Mrs. Phillips, Mrs. Starr, Mrs. Threlkeld, and Mrs. Thomas, asked the Board of Aldermen to receive the Library from them as a donation and for the city to keep up the same. The ladies still retaining the supervision and appoint the librarian with the Mayor." The City Council accepted the library. The dream of the Mid-Week Club to have a Centralia Public Library became a reality. In the beginning, the library was only open two afternoons a week.  Mrs. Willis, the librarian, was paid $53.50 for the year, which was paid one year after the library was started. The second year, it was open three afternoons a week and Mrs. Willis earned $79.00. Susanne Towles Connell donated a bookcase in 1904 to the Mid-Week Club to be used in the library. Her late husband, George Washington Connell, who was born in 1823, built the bookcase when he was a young man and used it for his own personal library. (The bookcase is now in the library board room and houses the antique books. It is in very good condition, including the aged wavy glass in the doors.) In 1909, Miss Fayette Frost became the new librarian and was paid $53.50 and the library returned to being open only two afternoons a week. In 1911, the Library Committee contacted the Missouri State Library to arrange for borrowing books on a six-month basis. This arrangement lasted only a short time. Over the years there were many book teas. One in September 1913 resulted in 69 books and a later one brought in 25 books. The city continued to pay the librarian's salary and the Mid-Week Club supplied books and supervision until July 1913 when the city, with its own financial difficulties, handed the library back to the Mid-Week Club. Mrs. Blanche Traughber was the librarian when the Mid-Week Club assumed sole responsibility of the library. Members cleaned the library, fumigated it due to a smallpox epidemic, and arranged to continue operation of the library.  To raise needed funds, members assessed themselves and sponsored chatauquas, musical programs and lectures. For many years, they sponsored speaking contests. A boy and girl were chosen from the fifth through eighth grades each year. Local women trained the speakers and charged $5.00 per student. The first place winners were given a gold medal and the second place a silver medal. Students sold tickets and the one selling the most got a prize. The contest was a big event and the high school auditorium was always filled. In April 1918, due to low finances and World War I, the library closed and remained closed for more than two years. Soon after the war ended, the club sent Mrs. H. E. Stone and Mrs. R. A. Roddy in May 1919 to the town council to ask for help to reopen the library. Their request being denied, they returned in October and again in November when the board agreed to allow the library to reopen and pledged to pay the librarian's salary. However in January 1920, the town council reversed its opinion and the library did not open. In August 1920 another community women's organization, P.E.O., came to the aid of the library.  All Mid-Week and P.E.O. members were assessed $1.00 toward the purchase of a 20 volume set of Book of Knowledge and asked for a minimum donation of three books. With the combined efforts of both organizations, the library was opened a few weeks later and Miss Lenora Kirk was the new librarian with the city paying her salary of $1.00 an afternoon two afternoons a week. This arrangement continued until the mid 1920's when the City Council experienced their own problems, with more delinquent taxes on the books than ever before in the town's history. To eliminate paying a librarian's salary, they decided to merge the city and school libraries. The entire Mid-Week membership met with the city council to protest the merger and the public library retained its identity. Disaster struck the library when all Mid-Week funds were lost in the bank failure, and the treasurer reported in April 1930 that $95.41 of the library funds were lost. A collection was taken at the April 2nd meeting netting $3.00 toward $3.15 due. In early 1931, the Mid-Week Club divided their money between the public library and Centralia High School library as help was needed in both places. By late 1931, the Mid-Week library fund was back up to $62.55. In 1931 an appeal for books was made through the local newspaper.  The library had acquired 1,481 volumes by 1933. In 1938, the Missouri Legislature decreed that any public library without tax support had to become a part of the county system. Mid-Week members, Mrs. Mary Pratt and Mrs. O. B. Mayes, circulated petitions seeking 100 names requesting a library tax be on the ballot at the next referendum. In April 1941, a 7-mil tax was voted for the library support and $702.00 tax support was available for the library. In 1944, the librarian Mrs. Homer Primm reported 4,341 books in the library. The tax rate was increased to 15 mil in 1958. In 1973, the librarian reported almost 14,000 volumes in the library collection. Voters approved a tax of 25 cents per $100 assessed valuation in 1985, and 43 cents per $100 assessed property valuation in 1996. In addition to financial problems, the library was forced to move several times during its history. From its first home in the old frame city hall in the northwest corner of the city square, around 1910 it moved to one room in the second city hall, a brick building located in the middle of what is now the city square. The library moved in April 1923 into a room over the old Farmers and Merchants Bank that later was known as the Focht building. The present municipal building was finished in 1924. In April 1925, the library was given a room in this building in the northwest corner of the second floor. The expenses in connection with this move included $101.75 for new library furniture, $28 for curtains and linoleum, $11.50 for new books, $3 for drayage and work on the floor was free. The library was moved downstairs to one room in the northwest corner in June 1944. Mrs. Primm hired some children to move the books down and records show she paid for 67.5 hours of work at 25 cents per hour. Rent for these rooms was $10.00 per month. A few years later it was expanded to two rooms. In 1963, the library moved to 304 E. Sneed Street after the Chance Foundation presented the residence and the lot to the city for specific use as a library. However, there was a need for fixtures, furniture and remodeling before the library could be moved. The Centralia Planned Progress Council, made up of representatives of many community groups, took on the project and was able to collect about $4,000 from individuals, clubs and businesses. Much of the remodeling work was done by civic club members. This two-story residential structure underwent structural renovation in 1987. Reinforcing and replacing supports were needed to handle the weight of books on the ground level. Despite this renovation, books could not be placed on the second floor of this 1,889-square-foot building. The library board of trustees purchased a vacant lot at Jefferson and Head Streets in 1971 from Gerald Bryson for $6,500 for the purpose of building a new library. In 1955, a bequest of $25,000 from the Emma Jean Ballew estate, was given to the library for the single purpose of building a new library.   Roanetta Rodgers was elected the first president of the newly organized Friends of the Library in 1995. In November 1996, after a community pledge and donation drive, library district voters approved a $350,000 bond proposal.  Construction began in July 1997 on an estimated $519,821 new 5,375 square foot structure. On March 28, 1998, volunteers from the community loaded books in boxes and moved them in pick-up trucks to the new facility while approximately 200 adults and children participated in a "book brigade". Once again the library closed temporarily and reopened on April 20.  In August 1998, the building on Sneed Street was sold at public auction for $47,000. In 1992 the board of trustees adopted a library operations program based on a team approach of shared responsibility between an operations manager and three staff librarians.  Each member of the team took part in ordering books, decision making and shared equally in operating the library.  Operations managers from 1992 to 1998 were Karen Sims, Sue Ellen Sydow, Linda Hoyt, and Margaret Doty. In 1998 the operations manager was named library director and given added responsibilities. Operation of the library based on a team approach of shared responsibility continues much the same under librarian Margaret Doty. Margaret Doty had community members sign material blocks that were later quilted by Mrs. Doty into a beautiful historical quilt, which can be viewed in the Computer Lab here at the library. Director Doty retired in January 2003, just shy of the Centennial Celebration in October 2003, and was replaced by Interim Manager, Patt Olsen.  Mrs. Olsen was offered, and accepted, the Director's position in July 2003.  Patt Olsen is our current Library Director.   Annie Comfort, librarian from 1999-2003, died at her home in Aug. 2003.  She was a teacher for several years before coming to the library, loved children and will be sadly missed by all who knew her. Centennial Celebration was hosted in October 2003 by the Friends of the Library along with the Board of Trustees and Staff.  Celebration was a social event that included: a harpist, a performance by Praises to Him (gospel singing group), a catered lunch, an oral history of the library by Joyce Pauley (as the "Library Lady"), storytelling by Karen Sims (former librarian), face painting and many giveaways sponsored by the library and community businesses. In 2007 Director Olsen reported that the library has 3 staff librarians (Trish Admire, Amy Hopkins & Erin Eastin) and two Student librarians.  The library held 30,167 materials, 20 public use computers, 85+ 3-5 year old story time children per week and 3,349 active library card holders. In 2007 the Friends of the Library was reorganized by Jennifer Barnes and a membership drive held. The librarians who have served from the beginning are as follows: Mrs. Anna Willis, November 1903 to December 1908 Miss Fayette Frost, February 1909 to July 1913 Mrs. L. B. Traughber, July 1913 to December 1915 Miss Lenora Kirk, January 1916 to November 1938 Mrs. Nela Mae Mayes, December 1938 to April 1944 Mrs. Homer Primm, May 1944 to January 1948 Mrs. S. K. Thurston, February 1948 to December 1959 Mrs. Travis Payne, January 1960 to April 1968 Mrs. Burton Knowles, March 1968 to March 1982 Mrs. Kay Cox, March 1982 to April 1989 Miss Pam Dunbar, April 1989 to March 1992 Mrs. Karen Sims, April 1992 to November 1994 Mrs. Sue Ellen Sydow, April 1995 to May 1997 Mrs. Linda Holt, May 1997 to October 1997 Mrs. Margaret Doty, January 1998 to September 2002 Mrs. Patt Olsen, to Present