Library History Continued
Founding Committee
A committee made up of Georgia Atwood, Ruth Geiser, and Grace Mounce proceeded to locate suitable quarters and to acquire books for the library collection. Mrs. Henry Walker, head of the library committee for the Kirkwood Public Library, was contacted through Georgia Atwood's daughter, Mrs. Claude Fiske, who lived in Kirkwood. Mrs. Walker gave suggestions on how to start a public library and a gift of fifty books came from the Kirkwood Public Library.
Initial Library Housing
Housing for the first library came from the Bindbeutel family who provided, rent-free, the use of a little frame building at the corner of Carson and Florissant Road. On June 1, 1930, the Ferguson Library opened with 575 books for its collection.
The Early Years
During the first three years of the Library's existence, it moved several times. From the little frame building on South Florissant Road, the Library went to 114 North Florissant Road to a coal-heated room in an office building owned by Dr. Otto Schudde, next to White's Funeral Home. The third move took the Library back down to the west side of South Florissant Road to where the Ferguson Hardware store is today. In the Spring of 1933, the Library went to the back of Deckmeyer's Drug Store at 20 South Florissant Road. In September 1934 a City Ordinance was passed providing for the maintenance of a public library.
Changing Locations
The library was located at 18 Church Street in the Bindbeutel Building from October 1937 to May 1952. The library moved to larger quarters in the new Municipal Building on Church Street when it was completed in 1952.
The library expanded again in 1961 with the addition of the balcony annex. The library joined the Municipal Library Cooperative in 1966. In 1985 a computerized circulation system was added. In 1995 the library moved to its current location on Florissant Road.
Becoming the Municipal Library
The Municipal Library Cooperative was disbanded in 1997 and Ferguson became part of the Municipal Library Consortium, sharing a patron and bibliographic database. The Missouri Research and Education Network upgraded the library's data transmission line to a T1 connection in 1997, allowing fast Internet access.
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