It was on January 15, 1941, that the Clewiston Public Library was born. Mayor F. Deane Duff and the City Commission requested the Garden Club, as a civic organization, to assume the responsibility for organizing and operating the library in a rented area of the U.S. Sugar Corporation's administrative building. The Club voted overwhelmingly to undertake the library project and a committee was soon appointed. With a $100 donation from Mayor Duff, the members secured the services of Moore Haven High School Librarian, Miss Hazel Humble, to catalog the books according to the Dewey Decimal System. Every Saturday and Sunday for three months, Miss Humble and her two assistants worked eight-hour days. On Friday and Saturday, April 4 and 5, 1941, the library was open for public inspection and browsing, and on Monday, April 7, the first books were issued to the patrons.
After several moves and the formation of the Library Association in June 1952, the Library moved to its permanent home in 1967, thanks to the generous $80,000 donation from the U.S. Sugar Corporation. A furnishing drive spearheaded by two ambitious and creative volunteers, Greg Esser and Dr. L. G. Vaughan, and the equally tremendous response and enthusiasm of literally hundreds of interested citizens provided the funds to furnish the now-named Harry T. Vaughn Library.
By 1992, the City Commission was contemplating adding onto the well-used facility and, in 1993, with $400,000 in state and federal grants, $250,000 from the City of Clewiston, $20,000 from Hendry County, $100,000 from the United States Sugar Corporation, and $57,510 from private donations, the City retained the engineering firm of Gee & Jenson and the construction company, Innovative Builders, Inc., to begin construction. The groundbreaking was held on June 1, 1993, and the grand opening on May 16, 1994. Mayor Perry was absolutely right when he said, "Clewiston is going to have a wonderful library, a facility of which we all can be proud." For more information on the Library, please click on "Library Presentation" under the Related Links below.
A Great Place to Visit
Library Director Ava Barrrett says the library is a great place to visit, and the Annual Reports prove that. Ava has started several new programs and is looking for ideas from our community to help make your library a better place to visit. Ava would welcome a visit from you any time, so drop by.
The library staff is committed to providing the community with a variety of resources, including fiction and non-fiction reading material, books on tape, videocassettes, and informational resources for reference and homework needs. The library currently has a collection of 121,811 titles. The library also offers a variety of cookbooks and gardening manuals.
