Greenville Public Library facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Greenville Public Library
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 Location in Illinois
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| Location | Greenville, Illinois, United States |
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| Built | 1905 |
| Architect | Paul O. Moratz |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| MPS | MPL015 - Illinois Carnegie Libraries Multiple Property Submission |
| NRHP reference No. | 95000991 |
| Added to NRHP | August 4, 1995 |
The Greenville Public Library is a special place in Greenville, Illinois, a city in Bond County. It was built a long time ago, in 1905, and is so important that it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. This means it's a historic building worth protecting!
Contents
History of the Greenville Library
The idea for a library in Greenville started way back in 1856. A group called the Ladies Social Circle of Greenville met to help people learn and grow. For almost 50 years, this group worked hard to raise money for a library.
Later, the Ladies Library Association collected $1,000 from the community. They also gathered 4,000 books. The very first book they bought for the library was the Holy Bible. At first, the library was in a librarian's home. Then it moved to rented rooms and later to the courthouse.
How Andrew Carnegie Helped
In 1903, the library group reached out to Andrew Carnegie. He was a very rich businessman who gave money to build libraries. Carnegie donated $10,000 to Greenville. This money was used to build a public library on land owned by the city. The library would also be supported by taxes.
Paul O. Moratz, an architect from Bloomington, Illinois, designed the building. He used a style called Classical Revival, which looks like old Greek and Roman buildings. The library officially opened in August 1905. It was a big success thanks to a lot of community support and hard work.
What You Can Find at the Library
The Greenville Public Library has a huge collection of items. It holds about 25,000 books. You can also find video tapes and audio books there.
Special Collections and Services
The library is home to the Bond County Genealogical Society's collection. This is on the lower level and helps people research their family history. The library also has every issue of the Greenville Advocate, the local newspaper, on microfilm. You can read newspapers from 1858 all the way to today!
The Greenville Public Library is part of the Lewis and Clark Library System. This means it connects to many other libraries. One really cool and unique service is that you can check out fishing poles! The Illinois Department of Natural Resources provides these poles, and you can borrow them for three days.
