DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say — so let's get into it. Way down in Hidalgo County, in the city of Mission, a library was born not from some grand civic decree, but from a handful of determined women with a Tuesday to spare. It was 1910 when Mission women formed the Tuesday Club, and four years later they organized the Civic League of Mission — with two missions of their own: care for a city park, and start a library.
Now, that library's first home? A shelf. A single shelf, sitting in an empty store.
Not exactly the grand reading room of anyone's imagination, but you work with what you've got, and those women worked. The library drifted between temporary sites, never quite settling, never quite belonging anywhere — until 1929, when the Mission city council passed an ordinance to establish a library proper. Things were moving.
Then, from 1935 to 1947, the public and school libraries merged into one, sharing resources, sharing space, sharing the whole uncertain proposition of a library without a permanent home. Finally, in 1948, the city got its first permanent location, over on 11th Street. A roof.
Four walls. A real address. But the story wasn't done yet.
In 1974, Juanita Speer Farley and her husband Hal donated a new site — not for themselves, but to honor Juanita's parents, George and Lyda Speer, early settlers of this corner of Texas. The library was renamed in their memory, and the Speer Memorial Library took its place in the life of Mission. The Junior Service League and the Friends of the Library kept pouring themselves into it, year after year, making it a key public service for more than a century.
From one shelf in an empty store to a library carrying a family's name — that's not a building. That's a town deciding, over and over again, that its people deserve a place to learn.
What the marker says
Mission women formed the Tuesday Club in 1910 and four years later organized the Civic League of Mission to care for a city park and start a library. The library occupied a shelf in an empty store and moved between temporary sites. The Mission city council passed an ordinance to establish a library in 1929. The public and school libraries merged from 1935-47 before the city had its first permanent location on 11th Street in 1948. In 1974, Juanita Speer Farley and her husband, Hal, donated a new site to honor her parents, early settlers George and Lyda Speer, and the library was renamed in their memory. Support of the Junior Service League and Friends of the Library have made the library a key public service for more than a century. (2014)