EXCHANGE: Carthage Public Library celebrates 125 years

CARTHAGE, Ill. (AP) - An effort by a group of Hancock County women to participate in the Columbian Exhibition, better known as the Chicago World's Fair, led to launching a Carthage institution still serving the public after 125 years.

The Women's Columbian Club, with an original goal to create an exhibit of women's work for the world's fair, changed its name to the Columbian Library Association on March 11, 1893, with a mission of founding a free public library in Carthage.

"They believed it was important to have a community library," library Director Amy Gee said.

City Ordinance No. 36, adopted on Sept. 11, 1893, established the library, which was marked with an open house early in March.

"125 years is something pretty special. We want to highlight that," said Gee, who has worked for the library since 1992 and has been its director since April 2015.

The celebration featured music of the era performed by The Lemmings, a Hancock County music group, along with scrapbooks and displays of the library's history and refreshments served by the Friends of the Library.

"People can tour the library and visit with friends, staff and board members and hopefully former staff and board members," Gee said. "It's a time to visit and celebrate the library."

The library opened on March 10, 1894, as a reading room above John Culkin's clothing store on the northwest corner of the square. "Several people donated books, or if they subscribed to a periodical, they'd allow that to be at the library. There was a lot of community support," Gee said. "One community member pledged $500 if they could find other people to match it."

The library association met regularly - and not just as a business group.

"They had social functions as well with their husbands and everyone else. They organized different events," Gee said.

Although today's library looks much different than that first reading room, the library's work remains the same.

"It's still the goal to serve the community and to have information and materials to make those available to the public to promote reading and literacy," Gee said. "Soon after they started, they did start doing some story hours for children, and we continue to do programs for all ages, including adults."

The library has just over 1,200 active library card holders and serves the Carthage Elementary School District.

It moved to a two-story building in May 2006 after Marine Bank built a new facility and gave its former home to the library. The Carthage City Hall then moved into the library's former location, "which was originally City Hall, and the Kibbe Museum was able to expand," Gee said.

Looking toward the future, the library plans to reconvene a community focus group established a couple of years ago to evaluate building options.

"The original plan when we moved here was we would eventually remodel the second floor, which right now we use for programs and storage," Gee said.

Fully utilizing the upstairs space would be costly, not only in terms of staffing two floors at all times but also in meeting accessibility requirements with adding a stairway and replacing the old, small elevator. But there are costs involved in other options, outlined in a 2018 report to library trustees, including expanding the library's first floor, remodeling another building to house the library or building a new library on another site.

"Either way we need to have a capital fundraising campaign," Gee said. "We can contact people on the (focus group) and find additional community members to help us move forward."

___

Source: The Quincy Herald-Whig, https://bit.ly/2BZTcft

___

Information from: The Quincy Herald-Whig, http://www.whig.com