Wellsville Public Library History

In 1944, the present library was started, first with donated books, then with books purchased with funds granted by the city council. In 1946 a half mill tax was voted; in 1948 a mill and half; in 1953 a two mill tax was voted. Today’s voted tax rate is .25 with no tax increase since 1985.

The first librarians were Mrs. F. F. Brocklebank and Miss Mathilda Mottz who donated their services for several years. In 1949, Dr. C. S. Straube, retired dentist, was hired as the librarian. The Library was located in the City Collector’s room (behind the current American Bank building) at that time.

In 1953 the board purchased a restaurant building for $5,000 where the current library is located. A 20 foot extension was added to the back of the library for a children’s collection in 1961. During the 1970’s, there were several changes including the addition of air conditioning, a book drop box, a public pay phone was installed, additional shelving was purchased and a skylight was removed from the roof to eliminate leaks.

A Friends of the Library was formed in 1984 to support the library in fund raising and volunteer work. The last tax increase for the library was voted in 1985. During the 1980’s steel siding was placed on the exterior of the building and a steel front door was added. The first computer was received by way of a grant from the Missouri State Library in 1987 with the Friends of the Library purchasing a printer for it.

During the 1990’s, additional computers, printers, a fax machine, copy machine, TV, and VCR were added through grants. Today there are six public computers with Internet access. There are over 12,000 books plus approximately 200 videos, and DVD’s in our collection. The library is currently open 23.5 hours per week.