A public library was first established in the small Wapello County, Iowa, community of Eldon in 1906, when a private group raised sufficient funds to rent a second-story room above a downtown local business. Within two years, a formal library association had been incorporated under state laws and recurring financial support of the library was transferred to the city. By 1911, efforts began to secure a Carnegie library grant for construction of a permanent library building.
A $7,500 grant was awarded and construction began in 1912. The new library opened and was dedicated in May 1913, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The Eldon Public Library is open six days weekly.
The Stanton Public Library was established in 1941 and is currently located in the old City Hall building at the south end of the community’s central business district. Open six days a week, the library collection features 7,000 books, along with a number of videos, DVDs, and audiobooks. A local group called Stanton Friends is leading an effort to build a large multi-purpose facility which will house the library in a space four times the size of the current location. Nearly two-thirds of the project’s $2.8 million price tag has been raised; an opening date has not been set.
The first library established in the Louisa County town of Letts opened its doors in May 1910 in a space above a local barber shop. Originally called the Letts Reading and Rest Room, the growing library moved twice in its first three years of existence. It then relocated to a renovated home for over 20 years before moving back downtown to an old bank building in 1939.
In 1946, the city purchased a building in downtown Letts specifically for library use. Locals donated time and materials to complete the repairs and renovations necessary before the new location formally opened in 1947. Though the library remains in the same location today, a number of upgrades have been made over the years, including the addition of a children’s area in 1995.
The current public library in the Mills County community of Silver City moved to its current location in January 1985, following a two-year fund-raising campaign to construct the new 22 x 56 foot building. Open four days each week, the library serves the 259 residents in Silver City, along with those in nearby rural areas. The library’s small budget is supplemented by an annual Ice Cream Social and fund-raising efforts of the Friends of the Silver City Library committee.
The Public Library in Ocheyedan dates to 1912, when the community’s first library was opened by a local women’s group in a room within a local general store. In 1937, the city council agreed to provide some library funding, and by 1941, the library relocated to a small room in the newly constructed city hall. The current-day standalone library location was dedicated in 1970.
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