St. Marys Community Public Library

Our library provides creative and factual resources to meet the educational, informational, cultural, and recreational needs of the community. Marys Community Public Library (SMCPL) was started in 1921 by members of the Shakespeare Club and dedicated to the children of St. Marys "for the purpose of supplying correct reading matter to our boys and girls." Housed in one room of the Community House i

n Memorial Park, it was opened for business on June 14, 1921. During the summer, the library was open to the public on Tuesday and Saturday evenings and Wednesday afternoon and throughout the winter just one day a week, Saturday afternoon. On March 31, 1922, the Community Library Association was formed as a separate and distinct organization from the Shakespeare Club and the library operated under its auspices until it was recognized as a school district public library on May 28, 1935. The library moved briefly to 313 South Main Street before relocating to the basement of the city-owned post office at 103 East Spring Street, where it remained for 45 years. On Veteran's Day 1981, a new building was dedicated at 140 South Chestnut Street on land donated by the City of St. Marys and funded by a bond levy. Voters were approached and passed a levy to fund a building and expansion project to the building at 140 S. Chestnut Street in March 2000. The project was completed in approximately eighteen months and the building was re-dedicated on April 14, 2002