San Luis Obispo County CA Archives Photo Place.....Paso Robles Library 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 23, 2006, 10:18 pm

Source:             Discovering San Luis Obispo County
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PASO ROBLES LIBRARY

History and Description:

The public library of Paso Robles, California, dates back to the year 1902.
There was an organization known as the Paso Robles Improvement Club whose
objective was the general improvement and betterment of the town of Paso Robles.
 One among many things the club accomplished was the establishment of a
temporary free reading room and library in the Blackburn Building.

The Ladies Auxiliary to the improvement club was established with the purpose of
aiding the library efforts and has raised a lot of money for the advancement of
the library.

In October 1903, the city trustees were requested to establish a free public
library for the city of Paso Robles.  This they did by an ordinance passed
November 2, 1903.

On April 11, 1904, at the general city election the question of whether there
should be municipal ownership of the library or not, was voted on and the result
was in favor of municipal ownership.  The library was then officially turned
over to the city.  Since then the maintenance of the library has been easier and
books and magazines have been accumulating so rapidly it was plainly to be seen
that more suitable rooms must be secured.  That is one reason why, in the early
part of 1907, the Ladies Auxiliary, through the library trustees, petitioned
Andrew Carnegie for funds to erect a suitable library building. Mr. Carnegie
agreed to furnish funds to the amount of $10,000 if the city trustees would give
a guarantee of $1,000 yearly for the support of the library.  This they did in
1907 and in June, 1907, the plans for a library building by W. H. Weeks,
architect, of Watsonville, were adopted, and in September, 1907, the contract
for the construction of the building was let to R. O. Summers of San Jose. Work
was commenced on the building in November, 1907. The cornerstone of the building
was laid January 29, 1908.

Since the completion of the library, a new wing was added on to the back of the
building in 1939 at a price of $5,000.  The library, situated in the city
park.is still in use today.

Sources:
Paso Robles Leader, January 29, 1908 
Louisiana Dart, Curator, San Luis Obispo County Historical Museum


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Discovering San Luis Obispo County
by
Carleton M. Winslow

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanluisobispo/photos/pasorobl48gph.txt

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