Public libraries in Winchester: A history of growth, expansion, and movement

Free pub­lic libraries like those of today were rare until the late 19^th cen­tu­ry. The ear­li­est libraries were fund­ed by sub­scrip­tion. One of the first in America was the Library Company of Philadelphia, estab­lished by Benjamin Franklin in 1731. 

In Kentucky, library com­pa­nies were autho­rized by the General Assembly.  On December 27, 1810, they passed an Act incor­po­rat­ing the Winchester Library Company and appoint­ed William N. Lane, James Simpson, James Clark, Chilton Allan, and Samuel Hanson as its first direc­tors.  The library sold shares, using the pro­ceeds to pur­chase books for mem­bers’ use only.  No infor­ma­tion could be found con­cern­ing its loca­tion or the num­ber of mem­bers, and it is uncer­tain how long the library remained in business. 

We find the next library locat­ed at the fire depart­ment.  William M. Beckner’s “Winchester Handbook” stat­ed that there was a library of sorts locat­ed in the Engine House on Lexington Avenue (lat­er home of Bob Tabor’s Engine House Deli). 

“The two-sto­ry brick build­ing has an ele­gant­ly fur­nished room con­tain­ing a library of over 800 vol­umes donat­ed by citizens.” 

Local papers men­tioned the Firemen’s Library from 1887 to 1894.  One of the sto­ries sug­gests that the books were for the use of firemen: 

“This enter­prise was mon­ey well spent and is high­ly appre­ci­at­ed by the boys.”

The first free com­mu­ni­ty library in Winchester was on the cam­pus of Kentucky Wesleyan College.  It came with the col­lege when it moved here in 1890 and allowed pub­lic access.  It was lost when the Administration Building burned in 1905. 

That year, William Beckner and col­lege pres­i­dent John L. Weber trav­eled to New York to vis­it Andrew Carnegie, the wealthy indus­tri­al­ist who fund­ed library con­struc­tion across America.  Carnegie agreed to pro­vide $15,000 on con­di­tion that the col­lege com­mit an equal amount.  After sev­er­al years of rais­ing mon­ey, con­struc­tion of the library was com­plet­ed in 1914.  While erect­ed for the ben­e­fit of its stu­dents and fac­ul­ty, the col­lege pledged it would serve as a pub­lic library for the com­mu­ni­ty.  This arrange­ment con­tin­ued for 37 years until Kentucky Wesleyan relo­cat­ed to Owensboro in 1951.  With that move, Winchester became a city with­out a pub­lic library. 

Anticipating Wesleyan’s move, the Winchester Fine Arts Club began plan­ning for a children’s library in 1950.  The fis­cal court grant­ed the club use of the third floor of the cour­t­house.  The Children’s Free Library opened in April with books pur­chased from dona­tions by club mem­bers, the gen­er­al pub­lic, and civic groups.  It typ­i­cal­ly opened in the after­noon three days a week. 

By November, the library had accu­mu­lat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 1,000 books.  The fol­low­ing year, the fis­cal court appro­pri­at­ed $50 per month for its oper­a­tion.  The ladies of the club added a sto­ry hour each Thursday that sum­mer and report­ed near­ly 1,500 reg­is­tered users.

The Fine Arts Club then began efforts to estab­lish a pub­lic library that would also serve adults.  The city agreed to under­write $4,000 of the cost, and the coun­ty put up $6,000, while the state came through with $5,000. Plans got under­way the fol­low­ing year with the dona­tion by Codell Construction Company of a retired rail­road pas­sen­ger car, which they installed behind City Hall on South Maple Street. Club mem­bers again took the lead, paint­ing the inside and out­side, installing shelves, mov­ing the books from the Children’s Library, and hir­ing Virginia Parsons as librar­i­an.  They soon had accu­mu­lat­ed 5,000 books and reg­is­tered 3,800 users.

By 1958, the library had out­grown the rail­road car and moved into the old Presbyterian Church on South Main Street. Lynne Boxley became the librar­i­an and served for four­teen years. Use of the new facil­i­ty grew quick­ly; in 1966, over 50,000 books were cir­cu­lat­ed, and anoth­er 30,000 were bor­rowed from the book­mo­bile. A rear expan­sion was added the next year, and many oth­er site improve­ments followed. 

A decade after the move, the board found that usage had out­stripped the church’s capac­i­ty.  In 1968, Danby Williams, a librar­i­an, and Helen Hunter, chair of the library board, announced plans to col­lect enough vot­er sig­na­tures to autho­rize a library tax to fund the expan­sion of the facil­i­ty. Through the efforts of many vol­un­teers, the need­ed effort suc­ceed­ed. The fis­cal court approved a library tax in 1974, enabling the con­struc­tion of a 2,436-square-foot addition. 

Growth con­tin­ued, and in 1994, the Board of Trustees sought an increase in the tax rate to fund a brand-new facil­i­ty, which required anoth­er vot­er-sig­na­ture dri­ve. That accom­plished and the new rate approved, the library pur­chased the old Winchester High School with the help of a $2.4 mil­lion grant from the state. With increased tax rev­enue, the library signed a con­struc­tion con­tract in 1997, and the present Clark County Public Library opened on December 7, 1998, with Danby Williams serv­ing as librar­i­an. The new build­ing enclosed 18,200 square feet. Under the lead­er­ship of librar­i­an Julie Maruskin, a 9,000-square-foot addi­tion was added in 2008, which includ­ed a children’s wing and a large meet­ing room. 

The Clark County Public Library is high­ly val­ued in the com­mu­ni­ty, as reflect­ed in its con­tin­ued growth in patron­age and cir­cu­la­tion, and is rec­og­nized as one of the region’s out­stand­ing libraries

It is unfor­tu­nate that space does not per­mit list­ing the names of the mul­ti­tude of per­sons in the com­mu­ni­ty whose ded­i­ca­tion has made Winchester’s libraries a suc­cess for well over a century.