Dayhoff Soundtrack: Carroll County Public Library

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Carroll County Public Library - Library History

History of the Carroll County Public Library http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/2016/04/carroll-county-public-library-library.html

Retrieved April 11, 2016 http://library.carr.org/about/history.asp

Library service in Carroll County began in 1863, when the Westminster Public Library was founded by Reverend J. A. Monroe and Dr. Charles Billingslea. The library was supported by membership dues and fines, and was open to the public on Friday afternoons. Relocating over the years from the Odd Fellows Hall to the new Times Building and then to the second floor of the Wantz Building, Westminster Public Library was still a one-room library in the 1940s.

In 1949, Mr. and Mrs. Walter H. Davis announced that they would give a public library building to Westminster and provide an endowment for its support. At that time, the Westminster Public Library turned over its operation and assets to the Davis Library. The Davis Library, housed in a former Methodist church building, was formally dedicated as a library in May, 1951.

In 1958, after ten years of lobbying, a county-wide library system was established, with the Davis Library operating as the central branch. Carroll County's first modern library facility, the Westminster Branch Library, opened at 50 East Main Street in March, 1980. An interior and exterior renovation of the building has been completed.

Read much more here: http://library.carr.org/about/history.asp

*****