Stillwater Public Library

Stillwater Public Library Stillwater Public Library connects members of our community with the power of knowledge, the poss Obscenities
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The Stillwater Public Library www.stillwaterlibrary.org site is operated by Stillwater Public Library employees. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete comments or posts, photos, and videos at any time. Since most social media sites provide the opportunity for allowing or disallowing comments, each proposed site posting will be approved with the explicit co

ndition of whether it will have comments. It should be noted that the value of social media is the interactive nature of the medium, and that the general purpose of choosing to use social media should include an interactive component of the posting. A specific reason should be noted when a social medium posting does not allow comments and interactive dialogue. The Library also reserves the right to modify the interactive characteristics of a site while it is posted. Site visitors who post comments to the site will be required to sign their real names to any postings. In the instances where comments are allowed, the Library will use the following guidelines when deciding to edit/remove a post:
1. Comment that is libelous/slanderous
4. Comments not related to the specific content of the site
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If comments are allowed, the staff member responsible for the page must monitor the site daily. (Staff can set up automatic e-mail notification when someone posts a comment on a page.) Stillwater Public Library has the right to reproduce any pictures or videos posted to this site in any of its publications or websites or any other media outlets. Stillwater Public Library has the right to quote any comments or suggestions left by users. The views, postings, positions, or opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Stillwater Public Library.

"Somewhere a river of happiness flowsWe'll sit on its banks while the warm breezes blowSomewhere there's a garden where ...
08/30/2026

"Somewhere a river of happiness flows
We'll sit on its banks while the warm breezes blow
Somewhere there's a garden where only love grows
Somewhere a river of happiness flows."
-Dolly Parton, River of Happiness

(Photo taken at William O'Brien State Park)

Stillwater Public Library Made the Fair! 🌱🎡Stillwater Public Library Foundation Executive Director Elsbeth Howe created ...
08/29/2026

Stillwater Public Library Made the Fair! 🌱🎡

Stillwater Public Library Foundation Executive Director Elsbeth Howe created her very first crop art seed project and chose a subject close to her heart: our very own Stillwater Public Library!

You can see Elsbeth's handiwork on display in the Agriculture Horticulture Building at the Minnesota State Fair.

We may be a little biased, but we think it's a-maize-ing! 🌽

If you're heading to the fair, keep an eye out for this seed tribute to a beloved Stillwater landmark. Elsbeth's work uses flax, sorghum, amaranth, hulled millet, oat groats, mung bean, yellow split pea, canola, red lentil, wild rice, french lentil, and spring wheat.

Stillwater Public Library Foundation Discover Stillwater Minnesota State Fair

08/28/2026

👂Recently overheard at the library 📚

Your kids make our day. This summer, we’ve overheard some conversations that made us laugh, from a very honest review of a mom’s lasagna to a perfectly timed “Shh” in the stacks.

And then there was the question at the information desk: “Do you have books about dogs?”

“Why are you looking for books on dogs today?”

“Because apparently I’m a dog person.”

Fair enough. Let’s find those books.

We love seeing kids explore the library, ask questions, find books and occasionally leave us wondering what they’ll say next.

And just to be clear, we’re not a shushing library. There are spaces for quiet reading, but there’s also plenty of room for conversation, curiosity and the occasional puppet argument about lasagna.

Keep it coming, kids. We’re listening. 🐰🦆📚

Thank you to our library kid reenactors!

Mainstreet Stillwater MN Discover Stillwater

🍎Stillwater’s First SchoolhouseWhat looks like a quiet old house in this 1931 photograph has a place in the early histor...
08/27/2026

🍎Stillwater’s First Schoolhouse

What looks like a quiet old house in this 1931 photograph has a place in the early history of Stillwater education.

The building on Olive Street, between Second and Third Streets, was built in 1848 for Stillwater’s first public school. Before the schoolhouse was built, students met in McKusick’s store at Main and Myrtle Streets. Nine students attended the new school, where they learned the “3R’s,” along with grammar. Miss Sarah Louise Judd was the first teacher and was also known as the area’s first commercial photographer.

One of those early students was Marie (Carli) Bolles, the daughter of Paul and Lydia Ann Carli. Lydia, the half-sister of Joseph R. Brown, namesake of Brown’s Creek, is believed to be the first woman of European heritage to settle in the area. According to a 1976 history of School District 834, Bolles walked about a mile through the woods to attend school. Her days began with milking cows, preparing breakfast and doing household chores before she made the trip to school.

The schoolhouse’s early years sound rugged. The 1976 account describes a building with cracks in its walls that required mud to be applied after rain. While the original account calls it a log house, the 1931 photograph shows a building with what appears to be wood siding. By the time John Runk photographed it, the building was no longer being used as a school and was probably a residence.

Stillwater’s school district became District 1, the first school district in Minnesota, in 1850.

This photograph is part of the John Runk Historical Photograph Collection, available for viewing in the St. Croix Collection Room at Stillwater Public Library and through the Minnesota Historical Society’s Collections Online.

Mainstreet Stillwater MN Discover Stillwater Minnesota Historical Society .info Stillwater Area Public Schools

🍎What's a book that makes you think of back-to-school?🎒Back-to-school season is here! 📚🎒Maybe it’s a story set in a scho...
08/26/2026

🍎What's a book that makes you think of back-to-school?🎒

Back-to-school season is here! 📚🎒

Maybe it’s a story set in a school, a book you read around the start of the school year, one that brings back those school-day memories, or a book that captures the end of summer.

Tell us about a book that makes you think of going back to school.

Mainstreet Stillwater MN Discover Stillwater Stillwater Area Public Schools Stillwater Area Public Schools

08/25/2026

Today, we join the rest of the world in mourning the loss of the legendary Dolly Parton. While she will always be celebrated for her soaring vocals, sparkling outfits, and iconic songwriting, we are remembering her today for a different kind of magic. We are honoring her incredible, lasting impact on the world of books and literacy.

Dolly knew firsthand how a lack of reading skills could limit a person's potential. Her own father never learned to read or write, yet she called him the smartest man she ever knew. That deep love and respect inspired her to launch Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in 1995. What started as a small project in her home county in Tennessee grew into a massive global movement. Because of her vision, millions of children around the world have received a free, high-quality book in the mail every single month from birth until they start school. It is an extraordinary gift to families everywhere.

But Dolly did more than just champion other writers. She was a gifted author herself, sharing her own imagination on the page. Children have grown up reading her beautiful picture books, Coat of Many Colors and I Am a Rainbow. She also shared her life story and creative process in books like Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, proving that her gift for storytelling stretched far beyond the microphone.

Dolly once said that you can never get enough books into the hands of enough children. Here at the library, we see the truth in those words every day. Her music made us dance, but her dedication to literacy changed lives. She did more than just sing about a better world. She built one, page by page.

Thank you, Dolly, for leaving the world so much brighter and more well-read than you found it. Your legacy lives on in every child opening a new book today.

08/24/2026

💙Read Minnesota!

There are so many award-winning and award-worthy authors in Minnesota. Our collection includes books for all ages and interests by authors you’ve heard of and some who might be new to you. Stop in and browse the round table display through August. Come see what Minnesota writers have to offer.

Mainstreet Stillwater MN Discover Stillwater

“And face-to-face with the lush vineyard, I feel my worries melt away. The grapes glow with that magical golden sunlight...
08/23/2026

“And face-to-face with the lush vineyard, I feel my worries melt away. The grapes glow with that magical golden sunlight, but from here, it feels far more real. I turn and turn, drinking in the sights of the green vines, thick with plump grapes, the same sage green as the broad leaves fluttering in the breeze. Dusty paths stretch between the rows, and I want to walk through them forever, listening to the almost-quiet of this strange, beautiful world.”

― Julie Abe, The Charmed List

08/21/2026

☀️Come in for some reading inspiration! 📚

Our staff put together book displays throughout the library to help you spot something new to read. And when you pull a book from one of those displays?

☀️We’re basically Walking on Sunshine. 🎶

There’s nothing better than watching a display book find its reader. We’ll keep putting out books for you to discover, and you keep choosing the ones that catch your eye.

Mainstreet Stillwater MN Discover Stillwater

🎸The More-Tishans: Stillwater Garage Band Greats A hearse, a guitar, and four young men. This is a snapshot of Stillwate...
08/20/2026

🎸The More-Tishans: Stillwater Garage Band Greats

A hearse, a guitar, and four young men. This is a snapshot of Stillwater’s thriving music scene in the mid-1960s. Captured in a photo featured in Scott Schell’s book Garage Sounds: Bringing Down the House, one of the area's most successful garage bands, the More-Tishans, poses alongside their distinctive band mobile.

Formed in 1963 by a group of Stillwater High School students, the More-Tishans quickly graduated from practicing at home to playing school dances, teen clubs, armories, and venues across Minnesota and Wisconsin. Their 1950 Cadillac hearse, purchased in 1965 to transport their gear, including custom coffin-shaped guitar cases, became an iconic staple of their identity, ensuring their arrival was just as memorable as their music.

The band reached new heights with their 1967 single, "(I’ve Got) Nowhere to Run," which earned regular regional radio airplay. By the time they played their farewell concert at the Stillwater Armory on August 23, 1968, they had logged more than 500 performances.

To explore more about the More-Tishans and discover other local musicians from this era, copies of Garage Sounds: Bringing Down the House are available to view in the library’s St. Croix Collection Room, with additional copies available for check-out. Fun fact: Library Board of Trustees member, musician and author, Craig Hansen, has played lead guitar with the More-Tishans, including when they were inducted into the Mid-America Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Stillwater's musical pulse remains strong today with musicians forming bands or just playing together for fun. You can experience that joy in person on Thursday, August 27, when Ruby’s Hidden Jam brings an acoustic music session to the library’s Johnson Terrace starting at 4:15 p.m. See our website for more information.

What are your favorite memories of Stillwater’s music scene?

Mainstreet Stillwater MN Discover Stillwater Mid America Music Hall of Fame Craig J. Hansen - Author & Musician Karen Hansen Carolyn Blocher Ruby's Hidden Jam

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224 3RD Street N
Stillwater, MN
55082

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 8pm
Tuesday 10am - 8pm
Wednesday 10am - 8pm
Thursday 10am - 8pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 1pm - 5pm

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