For the first eighty years following the Waterloo Public Library’s organization in 1896, two separate libraries served the community, with locations on each side of the Cedar River. In 1977, voters in Waterloo approved a $3.6 million bond issue to renovate the former post office and federal building into a new, single library. The project preserved the architectural characteristics of the 1938 building, renovated the interior space to better suit a library, and improve energy efficiency. Visitors will enjoy the two WPA-era murals inside the library, painted in 1940 by Edgar Britton, a student of Grant Wood.