GCPLD History
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Content taken from Ohio Library Council's orientation website with permission. |
Q. When was the Garfield County Public Library established? A. In 1938 as a Works Progress Administration project Q. Where was the first library located in Garfield County? A. The library was originally located in the New Castle school building. The library served the entire county, both rural and urban areas, as well as all of the school districts. Q. How did we become part of Garfield County? A. When WPA was discontinued, the Garfield County Commissioners agreed to take over sponsorship and finance it from the county's general fund. Q. When did the six branches join the library system? A. The Carbondale City Library became the first branch of the county library system in 1964. In 1968, the New Castle Branch's current building was erected as the main library of the system. The Glenwood Springs City Library became a branch of county library system in 1969, followed by Rifle in 1976 and Silt in 1980. In 1984, a new library was built in Carbondale. In 1982, the library in Parachute became the final branch of the county library system. Q. What is Carbondale's library named after? A. Gordon Cooper Branch gets its name from a NASA astronaut with ties to the area. Q. When was the Roosevelt Window built? A. The Roosevelt Window was originally commissioned in 1905 for $105 in Rifle’s new Christian church in commemoration of the one day on which the president was an honored member of their congregation. A fund drive was launched in 1980 when the window was offered for sale. It was purchased by the Heritage Windows Trust (a citizen group) for $35,000 and is currently on permanent loan from them to the Library District. This amount was raised in Rifle, a community with an adult population of around 2,000 at the time, in three and a half months. The window was fully restored in 2010 for about $20,000. Q. How long has the library been its own district in Garfield County? A. In 2006, the voters approved the creation of a new library district, separate from Garfield County. Read more about GCPLD history here.
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