The library groundbreaking on Southeast Fourth Avenue in 1949.
By Ron Hayes
On April 11, 1913, the Ladies Improvement Association of Delray gathered in their clubhouse at 419 E. Atlantic Ave.
The 40 ladies brought 40 books.
A library was born.
And a century flew by.
Today, those 40 books have grown into a collection of 174,784 items — books and magazines, CDs, DVDs — and Delray Beach is celebrating the first 100 years of a library that would make its founding mothers proud, if they could have imagined it.
“We kicked off the celebration on April 11, 2012, because 99 is the new 100,” jokes Kimberley Trombly-Burmeister, the library’s development director. “We wanted to maximize the opportunity and truly embrace the whole year with a community-wide celebration.”
This year, its $100-per-person Birthday Bash on April 11 will be followed two days later by a free Community Day celebration with balloons, a dog parade and a children’s storyteller.
The old Delray Beach Library in the late 1940s.
But no story that storyteller tells could match the true story of the library’s service to the community.
“We’re a womb-to-tomb institution,” says director of community relations Bonnie Stelzer. “Pregnant women come in and we serve them with books about childbirth, and then when their babies are born, we serve the babies.”
Louise Weir Glover knows this well.
Her grandmother, Athella Grace Weir, came to town from Bryn Mawr, Pa., in 1932.
Grace Weir used the library, and so did her son, Mahlon Slane Weir.
When Mahlon grew up, he married Joan Battin, and they used the library, too.
“The library has always been a beacon of light for our Weir family,” Joan Battin Weir wrote in a recent memoir.
Then Mahlon and Joan had Louise, John Mahlon and Melinda, who loved the library.
“I remember getting my first library card,” says Glover, a financial adviser with Merrill-Lynch Wealth Management. “I felt so important and grown up. At that time, the library had special evening story times. My parents would have us get in our pajamas, grab our favorite stuffed animal and blanket, and we would all walk to the old library on Fourth Avenue and listen to Mrs. Hunter read to us.”
Dr. Lynda Hunter, the children’s librarian, is still there, and Glover’s son, Slane, also heard her stories when he was a toddler. Now he’s a mature 9-year-old, checking out Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians series.
Lots of books. Lots of memories. Lots of history.
By the time Grace Weir arrived in 1932, the library had grown from a shelf in the Ladies Improvement Association to a room in Town Hall.
Supporters sold quilts and other handmade items to raise money for the library in 1930. Photos courtesy of the Delray Beach Public Library Archives
In 1939, the library incorporated as the nonprofit Delray Beach Public Library Association, a uniquely funded institution with its own board and budget.
“Every year, we go to the City Commission and ask for money,” Trombly-Burmeister explains. “Winter Park is the only other library in the state with this arrangement.”
Last year, about 71 percent of the library’s $2 million budget came from the city, 15 percent from the Community Redevelopment Agency and 3 percent from the state. The remaining 11 percent was raised through fundraisers, as is its entire capital endowment.
In 1913, library users paid a 50-cent fee. Today, the library is free, and any resident of Florida can get a card.
By 1950, when the library finally got its own building at 29 SE Fourth Ave., the collection had grown to 15,528 items.
Computers arrived in 1986 and public Internet access 12 years later.
And the ladies of the Ladies Improvement Association?
Their descendants are still here.
In 1924, they became the Woman’s Club of Delray Beach. Its members still volunteer at the library, and this year Joann Haros, the president, is a centennial co-chair, along with Linda Gunn.
‘It’s so friendly and relaxed,” Haros says. “You can concentrate. You can relax. I don’t know if people are aware of how many children use it for the computer labs. Not everyone can afford a computer.”
In 2006, the library left its 56-year-old site on Southeast Fourth Avenue for a modern incarnation at 100 W. Atlantic Ave.
The club room in the Ladies Improvement Association was 25 square feet. The new library is 46,826 square feet.
“It’s clubs, art exhibits, cooking classes, a geography club,” says Trombly-Burmeister.
Movie nights and job-search services, Lifelong Learning classes and free computer access.
“We’re the living room of the community,” says Alan Kornblau, the library’s director. “Our long-range plan only goes to 2018, so it’s hard to forecast the future. But we do know kids are being born, and will continue to be born. The digital world is changing the way books on CD and DVDs are going to be delivered, but I guarantee we will be providing those services somehow.”
Members of the Southern Dance Theatre perform the Nutcracker Suite in the lobby of the Delray Beach Public Library during a holiday fundraising reception. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
Correction
A photo in the January edition misidentified dancers at the Delray Beach Public Library. The name of the group is The Dancer’s Edge Company of Southern Dance Theatre.
Coming events
Friday, Feb. 1 — “Laugh with the Library.” Comedian Tom Cottters entertains at the Delray Beach Marriott.Tickets $150.
Thursday, Feb. 28 — Deadline for Centennial Young Adult Creative Writing Contest.
Saturday, March 9 — “Literary Picnic in the Park.” Choose a book and have your team dress as characters from it. Tickets $250 per 12-member team.
Thursday, April 11 — “Centennial Birthday Bash.” Tickets $100.
Saturday, April 13 — Centennial Community Day Celebration. Free.
For more information, call 266-0775 or visit www.delraylibrary.org
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