The Story of the Lawrence Public Library

The Lawrence Public Library is an indelible part of the community; it's hard to imagine Lawrence without it.  Yet few know how far back the story of the library goes or how very intertwined it has been with the story of the city.  The library is one of the few institutions that has been a part of the city from its founding, that expresses what Lawrence is all about.

So come with us all the way back to 1854, when the first library and literary association was founded in Lawrence.  Follow us to 1865, when a circulating library captured the city by storm.  Be there in 1904, when the beautiful Carnegie building became the city's new book hoard, and again in 1972, when a whole new building sprang up. Meet the people who have made the library special: a Quantrill's raid widow, a legendary poet, a constant librarian, a ghost.

It's been a long long history.  So let's get started.