The Rowan Public Library is a public library system in Rowan County,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. It was founded in 1911.

History

On March 11, 1911 a group called Traveler's Club met at the Lodge of Salisbury

Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. History The Elks began in 1868 as a soci ...

, on the second floor of the Meroney Theater in Salisbury, North Carolina. At this meeting a library association was formed. Archibald Henderson Boyden, a former mayor of Salisbury and a leader and later chairman of the city school board, was elected chairman of the library association. Boyden family offered to house the first public library of Salisbury on the property they owned in the small Henderson Law Office located in the corner of Church and Fisher Streets. In 1952 A.H.Boyden's daughter, Mrs.Burton Craig gifted the lot with the law office to Rowan County for the purpose of establishing a library. Boyden heirs donated additional $75,000 for the construction of the new library building. In 1913 Mrs. Mamie Linton accepted the position of a librarian. During this time the library moved to the former County Courthouse, dubbed the Community Building, and shared space with the police station. In 1936 the library employed its first professionally trained librarian, Miss Edith Montcalm Clark, who served as Director of Rowan Public Library for 36 years until 1972. Ms.Clark was the person who made the library from cataloging the book collection to physical expansion of the library into Spencer, China Grove, Faith, Landis, and Rockwell. She changed the name of the library from Salisbury to Rowan to reflect the spread of libraries in the county. In November 2019, Melissa Oleen took over as Library Director after the retirement of Jeff Hall.

Current services

*Public Programs *History and Genealogy *Computers and Internet Access *Digital Services

Library branches

* Rowan Public Library Headquarters in Salisbury, North Carolina * East Branch Library in

Rockwell, North Carolina Rockwell is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,108 at the 2010 census. History The George Matthias Bernhardt House, Grace Evangelical and Reformed Church, and Zion Lutheran Church are listed on the Nat ...

* Frank T. Tadlock South Rowan Regional Library in

China Grove, North Carolina China Grove is a city in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,434 at the 2020 census. The city is located just north of Landis and south of Salisbury. It was one of the first towns in the United States to have Rural ...

, renamed in October 2006 in honor of the former Commissioner of Rowan County, who was instrumental in establishing the library. * West Branch Library in

Cleveland, North Carolina Cleveland is a town in the Cleveland Township of Rowan County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 871 at the 2010 census. History The town dates from 1831 but was not incorporated until 1833. The first post office in Cleveland, ...

Notable holdings

A letter from President

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

was donated by local businessman Irving Oestreicher in 1951. It contains an "address of the Citizens of Salisbury to Washington" and Washington's reply. The letter stands on display at the Headquarters branch of the library. In 1999, ''The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'' by

Mark Catesby Mark Catesby (24 March 1683 – 23 December 1749) was an English naturalist who studied the flora and fauna of the New World. Between 1729 and 1747 Catesby published his ''Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'', the fi ...

was donated to the library by Archibald Craige. The two volume work is the second edition printed in 1754 and is one of only approximately eighty copies in existence. The volumes were reconditioned and placed in special display cases and placed near the History Room at the Headquarters branch.

References

External links

Rowan Public Library
{{authority control Salisbury, North Carolina Public libraries in North Carolina 1911 establishments in North Carolina