Henderson County Library

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The History of the Henderson County Public Library For one hundred years, folks traveling south on Main Street in Henderson have been admiring the white limestone and towering columns of the Henderson County Public Library. This institution first opened its doors to the public on August 1, 1904, after years of hard work by the publisher of the Henderson Journal, Edward Jonas. Mr. Jonas first began his campaign to bring a library to Henderson over a game of golf with the well-known philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie. Mr. Carnegie agreed to give the community the funding needed to build the library, if the community would purchase a suitable lot and would enact a tax that would cover the expenses related to running a library. It took Mr. Jonas until 1902 to get the backing of the local government, but soon things began to fall into place.Susan Towles was hired in 1903 as head librarian, and on that opening day in 1904 she began her 45-year tenure as the city’s guardian of information and knowledge. When she first started her career, the main library had only 500 books, with another 100 at a separate branch for the African-American citizens. Over the years, the library and the public that it served grew tremendously, so that in 1960, Miss Towles successor, Ms. Sarah Winstead, was faced with the first major renovation of the library. During this first of three renovations that the Henderson County Public Library would undergo, the downstairs was transformed to accommodate an expanded adult non-fiction section and a children’s area. The planning stage for the next renovation would begin in 1974 while Ms. Sherrie Clem was head of the library, however actual construction would not begin until 1979, shortly after the appointment of the current director Donald Wathen. This project was completed in 1980. During this construction, a 10,283 square foot addition was added the library to hold the adult and reference departments. The upstairs area of the original building was transformed into offices and an archive and local history room. The most recent changes were completed in 2000, with the addition of a new children’s department.In 2002, with the library larger and offering more services and technologies than could have even been imagined in 1904, the focus began to shift from growing and changing to restoring and preserving. During January 2002 a team of art restoration experts were commissioned to begin restoration of the murals that adorn the inside of the rotunda in the original building. As the team began to remove years of dirt and paint, several surprising discoveries were made, including the painted laurel leaf borders that frame each of the murals and the names of classic authors that appear between each painting. In June of 2003, the next stage of the restoration commenced with the copper roofing on the rotunda being replaced and the stained glass skylight in the center of the rotunda being removed, cleaned, and re-leaded. Also in 2003, the brass chandelier that hangs from the stained glass was restored to its original brilliance. January 2004 brought the replacement of the worn metal front doors, for replicas of the old wooden doors that once greeted the library’s patrons. During this time, the woodwork in the foyer area was also refinished to have it match the new “old” doors and the brass light fixtures were polished and refinished to match the shiny brass chandelier. The final restoration for the old building’s centennial was the painstaking uncovering and restoration of the tile mosaic that covered the floor in the foyer as well as the porch outside leading up to the front doors. This project was completed in May 2004.

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