The Portsmouth Public Library is a

public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

located near downtown

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It has served the city since 1879. The library has four branch locations in

Scioto County Scioto County is a county located along the Ohio River in the south central region of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 74,008. Its county seat is Portsmouth. The county was founded March 24, 1804, from Adams ...

: Lucasville, New Boston, South Webster, and Wheelersburg. The main library is located on Gallia Street across from the new Portsmouth High School complex. The W. Gordan Ryan (Lucasville) Branch (established in 1990) is located near the Scioto County Fairgrounds on Lucasville- Minford Road. The

Vern Riffe Vernal G. Riffe Jr. (June 26, 1925 – July 31, 1997) was an American politician of the Democratic Party. Riffe served for many years in the Ohio House of Representatives and was the longest serving speaker of the Ohio House of Representative ...

(New Boston) Branch (1941) is located on eastbound U.S. 52 (Rhodes Avenue). The South Webster Branch (1984) is behind the South Webster High School complex while the Wheelersburg Branch (1965) is located on Old Gallia Pike between Pirate Drive (

Wheelersburg High School Wheelersburg High School (WHS) is a public high school in Wheelersburg, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Wheelersburg Local School District, which is located in Porter Township along the northern bank of the Ohio River in ...

) and State Route 522.

Brief history

Portsmouth's traces of a public library began in 1831 when a small library opened at the corner of Market and Front Streets. However, the library closed a short time later. It wasn't until 1879 when the Portsmouth City Schools Board of Education donated a building at the corner of Fifth and Court to provide these services. The first librarian of this location was Colonel James Wharton. He grew the library's collection to 5,000 volumes by September 1881. The biggest donation came in 1902 when

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

donated $50,000 to construct a new library with the solicitation of Henry A. Lorberg. The new library opened on February 1, 1906, on Gallia Street and is still used to this day. The original architectural firm was Richards, McCarty and Bulford. Much of the architecture stays true to the numerous Carnegie libraries even though the library received renovations and extensions in 1971 and 1995 by the architectural firm of Donaldson, Wittenmeyer and Associates and Myers, NBD. Today the library offers microfilm of the Portsmouth Daily Times and other forgotten papers of the city, a local history department, and local Bookmobile services which began in 1938. The library celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2006 with a reenactment of the opening with current workers in early-1900s attire. It has an annual circulation of over 370,000.

References

External links

Official Site

History of Portsmouth Public Library
{{authority control Public libraries in Ohio Portsmouth, Ohio Education in Scioto County, Ohio Carnegie libraries in Ohio Buildings and structures in Scioto County, Ohio