About FCPL
Mission Statement:
“Branching into the community to inspire lifelong learning and enriching experiences”
History
The Beginning
In November of 1903, when Rochester, Indiana was still a small town (it officially became a city in 1910), a meeting was held by the State Traveling Libraries from Indianapolis in a venue at Peru to arouse interest in libraries in Indiana. A member of the Woman’s Club of Rochester attended and returned home enthusiastically sharing her findings with the rest of the club. A town meeting was held November 13th, and Miss Merica Hoagland of the State Library Commission explained the process of creating a local Library.
After obtaining the required signatures, Rochester and Rochester Township were made part of the coverage area, a Library tax was levied, and a Library Board was appointed, with Mrs. W. S. Shafer of the Woman’s Club as president, and they held held their first meeting on January 29, 1904.
The library was at first housed in the former jury room, in what is now the County Agent’s office in the court house, with only 500 volumes available. Miss Iva Etta Sullivan was hired to care for and catalog the books, and Mrs. H. L. Weltner served as librarian without pay.
Carnegie Library
In March 1904, Mr. Andrew Carnegie donated $10,000, which eventually became $15,000 (only $12,250 of which was needed) to erect a formal Library building. The lot on the southwest corner of Eighth and Jefferson streets (802 Jefferson St) was purchased from Isaiah Walker for $2,000. The Rochester Public Library building opened officially on September 4, 1907, and was open all day Friday and Saturday and every afternoon during the week.
The first librarian, Miss Sullivan, remained until 1910 when she resigned and was replaced by Miss Opha Pletcher. In 1912 Miss Grace Stingly was elected librarian.
There was also a Book-truck established (one of the first bookmobiles in the nation) carrying nine hundred volumes which visited the towns and schools in 6 townships, including Grass Creek, Leiters Ford, and Talma. Contracts were signed with various other townships in the county for library services via the Library’s book-truck. The Rochester Public Library served patrons until July 1921. At this point, the Library Board let Fulton County Commissioners know they wanted to cover all of Fulton County (except for Union and Henry Townships, which already had Libraries). The Library was then dubbed the Rochester-Fulton County Library.
Check out the historical Carnegie paperwork here.
The Fulton Branch
The Library at Fulton opened in 1921, and was open 3 days a week. It occupied one of 3 different rented locations for the next 46 years: first located above Caton’s General Store (which became Wilson Sundries [drug store]), then about a year later (October 7th, 1922), in the back of the old Post Office (which became a laundromat), then in the late 1920’s, in the corner building on the east side of 25 one block south of the stoplight (formerly Felder Drug Store), where it remained until 1967.
The rural and high schools used the book-truck and the Fulton Library for supplementary reading materials, and teachers could take out as many books as they needed and kept them as long as needed in the school room. For the first four years of the Fulton Library, Mary and Helen Rogers were in charge. Mrs. Phyllis L. Meyer, started on May 11, 1925, while it was in the post office location.
In 1933 the Fulton Library lent 9,257 books and magazines, the Book-truck lent 44,223, and the main Library at Rochester lent 56,207.
On July 1, 1966, the Libraries were merged under the name Fulton County Library at the recommendation of the Indiana State Library and the state Board of Accounts, due to the unwieldy nature of having separate library boards, separate financial books and separate library tax rates for city and township residents.
On March 19, 1967 the Fulton Branch Library opened their building a block east of Main Street, at 704 N. Wright Street in Fulton, and the name of the branch was changed to the Phyllis L. Meyer Branch, in honor of the Head Librarian, who had worked there for 42 years before retiring in 1971, and who donated the land for the new Library. She was succeeded by Mrs. Ann Zartman, who was librarian until 1982, when Mrs. Beverly Hapner took the position. At this time, this Fulton Branch became the headquarters for the Library’s Bookmobile.
On February 12, 1963, reciprocal borrowing began between Akron, Rochester, and Kewanna libraries.
The Aubbee Branch & More Coverage
In 1970, a library station was set up in Leiters Ford for Aubbeenaubbee Township, known as the Aubbee Library. It was originally housed in part of the Aubbee Fire Station. It moved to the former study hall of the closed Aubbeenaubbee Township School in 1978, and became an official Branch of the Fulton County Library in 1980.
Meanwhile, in Rochester, the Library building on Jefferson Street was running out of space for all the new materials that were coming in. On the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 19, 1979, the old Woodlawn Hospital building and property on the northwest corner of 7th and Pontiac streets, which was only about 2 blocks from the Carnegie Library building, was bought at auction by individuals, but purchased from them on November 27, 1981 by the Library, after considerable efforts of many people including the Friends of the Library. On December 5, 1981, the old Woodlawn Hospital was demolished, and on April 2, 1984, the new library building opened to the public, became known as the “Fulton County Public Library”, and was dedicated on Sunday, June 3, 1984.
The Bookmobile was discontinued in 1984, in order to use the funds to help with the branch libraries. At its peak, it carried about 4,500 books. It had traveled about 6,500 miles each month, 12 months a year. Only 4 vehicles had been used as a Bookmobile for the Library since its initial use in 1921, the last of which had been purchased in August of 1975.
In 1988, a literacy coalition was started, with children’s programs, and services to local nursing homes. In 1990, the library acquired the final SW corner of the block, purchased upon the death of the family matriarch, who had lived there. The house became the home of the Fulton County Literacy Coalition and El-Tip-Wa Adult Education Center. In 1995, El-Tip-Wa moved to Centennial Towers, and the Literacy Coalition moved into the Library building, and the house was torn down, to accommodate future Library use of the land.
The Aubbee Library’s building (the former high school building) grew into disrepair, and in 1989 the Aubbee Library moved to the rear of the TrustCorp Bank, which became Society Bank in 1990. In 1992 Society Bank closed and donated the whole building to the library.
Digitization & Growth
In 1993, the Libraries started using the Dynix integrated library automation system to keep track of patrons, and their checked out items. This included a publicly searchable catalog, dial-up internet access, community resources, and other added technology features.
The Library Arboretum (dubbed the “Strolling Visual Library”) was dedicated in May of 1993, on the half of the block that is 6th St. (former location of Lincoln School), with walkways, benches, a gazebo to rest in, and trees all around it that are indigenous to Indiana.
As of 1996, the Rochester Library had over 60,000 volumes of books, with collections of audio recordings on cassette and compact disc, periodicals, videocassettes, filmstrips, and services including computers with CD-ROMs for public use, typewriters, and outreach programs to the jail and hospital. In June of 1996, the Rochester Library closed its meeting room and converted it into the Children’s area, to keep from needing to expand the building.
In 2001, the library purchased the former laundromat building from the town for $43,517, and tore it down to build the next Library building, which cost $335,463. The new Fulton Library, located at 514 US 25 (now dubbed 7420 Liberty Avenue) was dedicated on August 9, 2001.
In 2006, a 12,100 square foot addition to the Rochester Branch Library was begun. It allowed for a much larger Children’s area, 2 large Meeting Rooms, a Teen Room, and a few rooms for the Literacy Coalition for learning spaces. The new addition and renovation was finished in October 2007, and the Grand Opening was held on March 2, 2008. 3 former Library Directors attended the event: Dave Ewick, Larry Cunningham, and Linn Landis, all of whom helped work on the renovation at various times.
In the fall of 2006, the Library Board began negotiations with the Leiters Ford trustees to create a new Branch Library for the patrons in that area. Construction was started in June 2008, the Library moved in on August of 2009, and the new building was dedicated on November 7, 2009. In 2011, the need for a meeting room became apparent, so a 24’ by 40’ addition was added on the east side of the building. This area is used for Storytime activities, meetings, and housing additional storage items. The addition was finished in December of 2011.
In February 2009, the Fulton County Public Library joined Evergreen Indiana which was a consortium of only 37 libraries located throughout Indiana, and now numbers over 120 public, school and institutional libraries (more than half the public libraries in the state), which use the Evergreen Integrated Library System. Patrons of all the member libraries can use their Evergreen Indiana library card to view the catalogs and borrow materials from the other member libraries. The Evergreen Indiana catalog, as of 2020, holds over 2.5 million bibliographic records and provides access to over 7.5 million items, and serves 1.2 million patrons.
Summary
The Library has grown from quite a humble start – a single room in the Court House – to transitioning to its own small Carnegie building, to a larger building, which was ultimately doubled in size, and has added many features over the years:
- Books-On-CD
- Music Albums
- Movies
- Comics/Manga
- eBooks
- Audiobooks
- Microfilm of old newspapers
- Genealogical resources
- Public Computers
- Laptops
- Printing/Copies/Fax
- Computer Tablets
- 3 Branch Libraries
- A Teen Room
- An Aboretum
- A Literacy Department
- Meeting Rooms for Public Use
- A Digital Card Catalog you can access from home
- A Website with Many Free Digital Media & Resources
- A statewide consortium of Libraries that share their items
- Regular Local “In-House” Programs, Activities & Services
- Free Crafts
- Handicap Accessibility
- Free Book Programs
- A Summer Reading Program
- Games & prizes for all ages
- ESL service
- Outreach Programs
- Virtual Programs
- Curbside Service
Sources:
Rochester Sentinel:
January 8, 1904
January 30, 1904
December 30, 1904
February 8, 1905
March 14, 1905
March 15, 1905
June 24, 1905
July 25, 1905
September 5, 1905
October 21, 1905
February 14, 1906
March 16, 1906
April 26, 1906
May 25, 1906
August 10, 1906
August 24, 1906
September 10, 1906
September 14, 1906
May 18, 1907
August 22, 1907
September 5, 1907
October 28, 1907
February 28, 1922
April 26, 1922
October 11, 1922
December 11, 1922
January 4, 1961
May 9, 1963
July 18, 1966
March 6, 1967
April 5, 1978
March 27, 1984
April 2, 1984
April 5, 1984
May 31, 1984
March 8, 1985
June 28, 1985
July 2, 1985
November 8, 1988
July 25, 1989
August 22, 1989
June 2, 1998
July 28, 1998
December 29, 1998
The News-Sentinel:
December 15, 1928
April 24, 1929
April 25, 1929
December 6, 1934
March 3, 1941
March 13, 1951
Evergreen Indiana websites:
https://blog.evergreen.lib.in.us/?page_id=2809
https://blog.evergreen.lib.in.us/?page_id=2919
The Fulton County Public Library Policy Manual:
https://www.fulco.lib.in.us/about-fcpl/policies/
And various issues of Fulton County Historical Society Quarterly
Special thanks to the late Judge Wendell Tombaugh for his work in digitizing and organizing the contents of the Rochester Sentinel newspapers from the 20th century, which expedited the gathering of information for this page