Rushville Public Library
At the start of the 20th century, Rushville was without a formal public library. While the Rushville Public Library Association had existed for over 20 years and had upwards of 1,000 books, the group still met in a room above the local drugstore and had no building of its own. In February of 1906, the mayor of Rushville wrote to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation requesting a grant to build the first-ever Rushville Public Library. At the time, Carnegie had already been funding the building of public libraries since 1883. Less than two weeks after sending the request, the mayor received a reply from the secretary of Carnegie, James Bertram, which approved the funding for an amount of $5,000. The next month, in March of 1906, there was a referendum in the public election to establish the Rushville Public Library, but the referendum did not pass. Following the failed referendum, there was a gap of approximately three years where no forward-progress was made. It was not until 1909 that interest was shown once again in establishing a public library. This time, it was the Rushville Women's Federation that took charge. They, as the mayor had done in 1906, wrote to Carnegie requesting funding. The secretary responded saying Rushville had already received an offer from Carnegie for $5,000 to build a library. The Women's Federation was the in charge of seeing the project through. Their next step was to obtain a piece of land. The Scripps Family was and is still known throughout Schuyler County for their philanthropy. It was two members of this family, John L. and wife Frances A. Scripps, who donated a piece of land. On May 17, 1910, 104 N. Monroe was donated as the future home of the Rushville Public Library. After obtaining a piece of land, J.C.K. Pearson of Jacksonville, IL was appointed to design and build the Rushville Public Library. His plans, which were submitted to Bertram in 1911, were approved and the amount of funding was increased from $5,000 to $7,500. Despite the budget increase, the building ended up costing $400 over the $7,500 grant. The Women's Federation raised the remaining $400 to complete the project. On February 12, 1913, the Rushville Public Library was open to the public, receiving several hundred visitors in its first day. The top floor contained the book collection, with both adult's and children's books, while the basement served as a meeting room for the Women's Federation. In the 1980s, the children's section was relocated to the basement. Today, the library still stands, but is no longer in use. In 2011, the library received a memorial from Mardelle Hinners which was then matched by the Public Construction Grant from the Illinois State Library. Construction on the new library, to be located at 514 Maple Avenue, began in September of 2013 and was completed in November of the following year. |
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