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Library history in Hickory
may be traced back to the year 1893, when the Travellers Club began a
subscription library with a rental collection purchased from a local
businessman. The Hickory Library Association was incorporated in 1906, for
the purpose of governing the affairs of the library. Official recognition
from the City of Hickory came in 1915, when the City Council elected two
directors to the Association. Also during that year, George Ivey was
elected to the board of directors.
About that same time, the
Association began planning for a permanent site for the library, which had been
housed in a number of sites during the preceding nine years. In 1917, Mr.
and Mrs. J. Worth Elliott donated property to be used as the site for the new
library. During this same year, Mr. J. L. Cilley and Mr. J. D. Elliott
went to New York to solicit grant funds from the Carnegie Foundation.
Although there were no remaining foundation funds for library construction, Mr.
Cilley and Mr. Elliott did obtain a $14,000 private contribution from Mrs.
Carnegie. These funds were supplemented with a $.05 per hundred tax
approved by the voters of Hickory. The J. Worth Elliott-Carnegie Library
opened for service in 1922.
In 1943, Mr. George F. Ivey
offered to the city a donation of $30,000 to be used toward the construction of
a new public library. The new library was to be a memorial to his son,
Elbert Ivey. The City of Hickory pledged to provide a site for the new
library. Mr. Ivey's donation was eventually supplemented with both public
and private funds, and in 1950, the City Council approved purchase of the J.A.
Martin property on Third Avenue, NW as a site for the library. In 1952,
the Elbert Ivey Memorial Library was opened.
In the early 1960's, the
dirt basement of the building was finished to provide much-needed space for
shelving for the adult non-fiction collection.
Until 1969 children's
services were provided on the main floor of the library. In that year, a
bequest from Mr. Richard Little, an educator who was a native of Hickory, made
possible the addition of a separate children's department on the basement level
of the library.
And finally, in 1975, a
3,000 sq. ft. two-story addition was constructed to provide office and work
space for the library staff.
The library gained
additional space for its growing collection and services with the acquisition of
the John Cilley house, which was located adjacent to the library. This house,
which served as the Catawba Science Center for a number of years, was turned
over to the library in 1987, after the Science Center moved its operations to
the new Arts Center of Catawba Valley. In April of 1988, the library moved all
audiovisual materials and services to the Cilley House, and began operating
audiovisual services as a separate department.
In 1990, the City Council
authorized a study to determine the possibility of renovating and/or adding
space to the Elbert Ivey Memorial Library. The study showed a new
facility would be more cost effective. A site selection committee was
appointed, and recommended a site adjacent to the Arts and Science Center of
Catawba Valley to the City Council. The site was obtained by the City, and
construction on the new facility began in 1996. City Council undertook a
Fund Drive, and over $2 million was raised for the new facility, new materials,
and a library foundation.
Elbert Ivey Memorial Library
was officially closed November 30, 1997, and a gala
donor dinner and
grand opening were held in January, 1998 for the Patrick Beaver Memorial
Library.
Patrick Beaver Memorial
Library had a total opening day cost of $6.2 million, has 40,347 sq. ft., with
reader seating for 180 persons, meeting room seating for 100 persons, parking
for 133 vehicles, and a staff of 38 (full and part-time).
On February 7, 1999, Patrick
Beaver Memorial Library celebrated its first
anniversary.
For more information about
current operations, please see various headings in the menu
to the left.
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