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Lewisville Public Library’s 40th noted with big fanfare
BY DAN EAKIN
Staff Writer
It was probably the biggest birthday party in town Sunday afternoon.
Not for a person, but for a library that has had several homes in Lewisville over the years, including the present one at Main Street and Civic Circle.
Dalton Gregory started the event by entertaining the crowd with stories and songs, accompanied by his guitar.
Lewisville Mayor Gene Carey, a 30-year-resident of the city, remembered when the library was just in a small building in Old Town. He also remembered applying to become a member of the Library Board, but was turned down. He said he felt he might never be able to serve the city, not knowing that eventually he would become the city’s longest-serving mayor.
“A library is a storehouse of knowledge,” the mayor told the crowd. “People come to the library to learn.”
Cindy Bennett, who served as library director from 1968-1999, remembered the library’s humble beginnings.
“At first, the library was in the basement of the Presbyterian Church,” she said. “There were vines growing through the windows and toads on the floor.”
She said supporters of the library wanted it to become a department of the city.
Books had been collected for a library since the 1950s, and the library was initially operated totally by volunteers.
The first library had 5,000 square feet. The new library, which opened last year, has a total of 88,700 square feet, with 15 full-time and 24 part-time employees.
The Lewisville City Council approved an ordinance on Jan. 22, 1968, establishing the library as a city department. Cindy Bennett was hired as the library’s first director effective Sept. 1, 1968.
A 5,000 square-foot library was opened in Old Town in February 1971 and the city began planning a 24,000 square-foot library in 1986. It opened in November 1989 at Main Street and Civic Circle.
Plans for even a larger library began in 2001. Voters approved a 4B tax package in September 2002, which included funding for the library project and park improvements.
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