Bay City Library

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Bay City Library. Now, you might think a library is a quiet story. You would be wrong.

It starts in 1912, in the offices of the J. P. Keller Insurance Company, of all places.

That's where the Bay City Public Library first set up shop, tucked in among the policy papers and premium ledgers. Same year, the Bay City Library Association got itself organized as a non-profit, and those folks wasted no time. They rolled up their sleeves and started raisin' funds from the community to keep the whole operation going.

A library born in an insurance office, kept alive by neighbors passing the hat. That's a Bay City kind of story right there. By 1913 they had purchased land, and by 1914 they had a building to call their own.

A real library building, built from the ground up. And the first librarian to walk through those doors and take charge of the place was Miss Josephine McCullough. Remember that name.

The years kept moving. In 1958, a new library building was constructed, because a growing community needs a growing library. Then 1977 brought a friends of the library organization into the fold, which meant even more people looking out for the place.

And then, in 1987, the Bay City Library became part of the Texas state library system. What started squeezed into an insurance office had grown into something the whole state claimed as its own. Miss Josephine McCullough would have approved.

What the marker says

Organized in 1912, the Bay City Public Library was first housed in the J. P. Keller Insurance Company office. The non-profit Bay City Library Association, also formed in 1912, spearheaded community fund raising efforts to operate the library. Land was purchased in 1913, and a library building was completed in 1914. The first librarian was Miss Josephine McCullough. A new library building was constructed in 1958, and a friends of the library organization was formed in 1977. The Bay City library became part of the Texas state library system in 1987. (1989)