For quite a number of years it had been a dream of Miss Inez Moon to establish
a library in the Village of Central Square. In 1933 she found that
the upright part of the Mary E. Munsell Home (Owned by her daughter Josephine
Rogers) could be rented for $8 a month. There was no plumbing and no
heat. It was taken and a meeting was called for October 30, 1933
at the fire house to elect trustees. There were so few people present
that it was adjourned for November 10, 1933. November
10th had even a smaller turnout so Miss Moon selected the first group of
trustees. Those who agreed were; George H. Devitt, Mrs. Fred Ure,
Mrs. Lottie J. Conterman, Leonard Lastine (Treasurer), Mrs. Clarence C. Gleason
(Vice President), Paul J. Fuller (Secretary) and Inez Moon (President). Miss
Moon was elected Librarian and served until her death on September 8, 1943.
The Library opened December 13, 1933. The money to pay expenses,
books and furnishings were all donated from within the community. The
first library card was issued to Ray Brown. Arthur Watson checked out
the first book and Betty Coville Yates was the first person to use the reference
resources.
In 1934 the Village of Central Square promised to give the library
$50 a year, everything else was raised by volunteers or donated to keep the
dream of a library alive and growing.
The provisional Charter was received on April 14, 1933 and the
absolute charter on April 22, 1949. In the Spring of 1940 the Library
Association was organized by Mrs. Ray Sheldon. On November 22, 1940
the library purchased the library building (house, lot and barn) for $875.00.
|
Following the death of Miss Moon in 1943, another prominent
woman in the history of the library entered the scene, Mrs. Ada Powell
Smith. She became chairperson of the membership drive which helped
to increase the building fund also. Thanks to her much of the money was
raised to build the current brick building that the library is housed in
today. |
On April 17, 1955 there was an Open house held to celebrate the opening of the current library we all know today. Abigail Snow was the librarian for many years. |
