The La Porte, Texas branch of the Harris County Public Library began in June 1921
with 110 books placed in the La Porte High School. In 1923, due to increased adult
patronage, the library was moved to quieter and larger quarters in the La Porte
Hardware Store, then owned by Mrs.Claire Slusher.
In February, 1925 the La Porte Chamber of Commerce agreed to pay a librarian four
dollars per month and the county would pay a small additional sum on an hourly basis. The library was now open for two days a week.
In 1928, Gladys Harrison, president of the PTA, instigated a drive to build a
community library. She and the president of the Ladies Reading Club, Mrs. F. T.
Baldwin, and Mrs. Wilbur Smith, the Chairman of the Red Cross, signed a note for
material needed to build a 15 ft. x 28 ft. wood frame building. The grounds for the library were donated by the Presbyterian Church (now the Community Church).
Construction with free labor was started in 1928, and the building dedicated and
opened in February 1929.
In 1941, during WW II, a partition and another door were added so the Red Cross and Air Raid Warden could share the building. This building served as the City Library from 1929 to 1967 when a new building was opened at 526 San Jacinto Street.
In 2002, the original 1928 library building
was given to the La Porte Bay Area
Heritage Society. It was moved to the grounds of the Heritage Society's Depot
Museum, where it was restored and filled with books, newspapers, and magazines that were popular in the earlier days of La Porte's history. The old Library opened to the public again in 2010.
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