History of the Library

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The Gnadenhutten Public Library was organized by Gnadenhutten-Clay Township school officials in July, 1934 and was housed in one room of the grade school building; it contained approximately 500 books donated by the citizens of Gnadenhutten, surrounding communities, and donations from other established libraries in the county. The local school board appointed as trustees of the library board, D.V. Kennedy, Mrs. Myrtle Heck and Mrs. Helen Simmers from Clay Twp. and the Rev. R.H.Brennecke, W.O.Demuth, Mrs. Grace Blackburn and Mrs. Nelle Patterson from the village. The school board provided the room, heat, and light and furnished book cases. In November, 1934 there were 221 registered patrons. Eventually, this school room had to be vacated and the library was moved to two large rooms in the F.C.Winsch home in July, 1936 located at the corner of W. Main and S. Walnut Streets.

The present library building formerly housed the Gnadenhutten Building and Loan. Mr. D.V. Heck donated the building to the town for a library. It was formally opened to the public on November 1, 1942. In his presentation of the building Mr. Heck said:

I am indebted to this school district for my high school education which I received in the old building almost directly across this street and in gratitude and appreciation for the benefits I have received, I wish to give this building to be a means of education for years to come, that in this building may be found the truth for which future generations will seek.

He then presented the key to the building and Mrs. Heck presented the deed and the insurance policy to board president W.O.Demuth. Other board members who spoke that day were Miss Beryl Parrish, Mrs. Myrtle Heck; Rev. R.H. Bohner, Rev. C.A. Quear, Dr. Elizabeth Rowland-Aplin, Mrs. Grace Blackburn and Mrs. Ella Virtue. Some accounts also list Mrs. Foss Peter serving on the board.

The December, 1935 board minutes reported that the library would need to adopt the county library extension service plan in order to qualify for state funding; following this application, the funding allowance in 1936 was $1200 per year.

At first, there was no trained librarian, as high school girls, Alice Dietrich, Helen Demuth, and Dorothy Gram, managed the library under the supervision of Mary Buckingham, the assistant librarian from Uhrichsville; she was later hired as a part-time librarian at the pay rate of $20 per month. The annual state report for 1937 indicated that 8319 books circulated to 445 patrons.

When the collection was moved from the Winsch home, Mrs. Nelle Patterson became the librarian, until her illness and death in 1948. Librarian assistants included: Mayme Lockett Donaldson, Mary Wolfe, Emma Hooker Mowl, and Phyllis Parrish. Mrs. Parrish became librarian in September, 1948, and continued in this capacity until December, 1951. Her salary in 1951, was $75 per month. Board members serving in 1951 included: Mrs. Anna Montague, Rev. James F. Gross, Mrs. Vera Gooding, Mr. Earl Kennedy, Mrs. Betty L. Kohl, Rev. John Benson, Mrs. Ella Virtue. Other librarians serving at the library included: Jean Mauderly, Jean Davidson, Mary Peter, Betty Padgett, Patricia Albright, Marge Leonhard, and currently, Marilyn Stocker. Assistant librarians over the years were Jean Mauderly, Mary Peter, Betty Crahan, Sandy Simmons, and Phyllis McCullough.

In January, 1960 library board members included: Harold Herbert, Rev. John Mormon, Betty Lou Kohl, Earl Kennedy, Ruth Jean Lockett, Rev. George Bailey and Mina Williamson. Appropriations totaled $3000 and the library held 10, 939 volumes.

In 1973 the size of the collection of books required expanding into the lower level of the facility. Funding for this expansion was made possible through revenue sharing grants, and donations from businesses. On August 16, 1973, an open house was held to open this area to the public. Library hours of operation were expanded to 4 afternoons, from 1-4 pm and 2 evenings, 6:30-8:30. Board members included: Walter Albright, Edith Begland Phyllis Stocker, William Padgett, Mable Gallagher, John Crahan, and Ben Pfeiffer.

In 1988, a capital fund was established and $45,000 were transferred into the account to prepare for another library expansion. Board members included: Lee Brown, Robert Ervin, William Padgett, Rev. Richard Michel, Susan Mathews, and Marilyn Stocker. The annual budget included $2500 for books and the librarian's salary was $7600.

In 1994, the expansion project at the rear of the building doubled the available floor space to about 4500 square feet and provided a chair lift for easier accessibility. The projected cost of this expansion exceeded $276,000. Architect and project coordinator was Jack Harden, of Harden, Reid and Jahnes of Newark. Members of the Library Board of Trustees in 1994 included: Richard Brown, Rev. Richard Michel, Robert Ervin, Nancy Danneberger, Sue Mathews, Richard Fouts, and Lianne Martin.

The library automated the materials collection, increased the hours of operation and the number of library staff in 1997. The state technology initiative provided two personal computers to each public library and access to the Internet. Matt Boron assisted the library staff with implementing computer services and establishing a facility-wide network. This network now includes an in-house server, six patron computers with additional ports for laptop connections, 3 printers and six computers for staff use. Materials in our collection now include a variety of formats, books and resources on cassette tapes, compact discs, videos, digital versatile discs and on-line databases with additional resource information on the library's newly designed web site. In addition to the traditional library services, patrons now enjoy remote (outside the library's walls) access to many of the library's resources, inter-library loans from any library in Ohio delivered to our facility, Internal Revenue Service, voter registration forms, Golden Buckeye cards, Ohio Kids Cards, photocopy, fax, laminating, and homebound services as well as children, teen, and adult programming opportunities.

The budget (even with the state freeze) exceeds $130,000; we currently hold 23,000 items and have circulation 37,000 items to 2200 registered borrowers.

In 2008, the staff has increased to include: Erin Taylor, Carole Courtwright, Debra Hamilton, Edith Paternoster, Matt Boron and the current board members include: Richard Brown, Richard Fouts, Sharon Frank, Matt Bonvechio, Troy Page, Marian Cornell, Robert Fuller, and Sandra Cappels is our Clerk-Treasurer.

With the speed at which new technologies develop, predictions on how the library will change in the coming years seem to be a futile effort but planning for the future is a constant and we must remain flexible, financially responsible and focus on those services that will best serve our community.

The determination and resourcefulness of the library staff and many community leaders have contributed to the present-day library organization that we enjoy today. May we continue to respect this heritage and offer our best efforts to improve library services to the community in the future.