Ashtabula County District Library history

A permanent site for the Geneva Free Public Library was secured in 1910 with funds from Andrew Carnegie and the Platt R. Spencer Memorial Association.

The Harbor Free Public Library was established in May of 1924 by the Harbor School District Board of Education and a room was allocated for it on the first floor of Harbor High School on 221 Lake Avenue where Lake Avenue meets Walnut Boulevard.

Even with two library quarters, the collection soon outgrew the space available and the Adults' Library expanded to use two of the Harbor High School rooms in 1934.

In a time of financial crisis, however, this money was reallocated to the school general fund and the plan for a library building was abandoned until the 1950's.

In 1952 the Haskins' Building was demolished to make room for an expansion of Harbor High school and the Children's Library was relocated to a room in Washington Elementary School, 917 Lake Avenue.

In 1955, the Geneva Public Library joined the Ashtabula County District Library system.

The County-wide Bookmobile service began in 1958 and was a result of the previous extension service offered by the Ashtabula Public Library.

In August 1959 the Topky Memorial Library, a one story 50' by 100' building, opened to serve the adult community.

Twelve citizens established The Friends of the Library in 1977.

Office space and a new doorway were created in 1980.

The library joined the computer age in 1983 with its first purchase of a microcomputer for use by the staff and patrons.

A 25' x 100' addition to the back wall of the Topky Library was dedicated in October, 1984.

In July of 1987 an outreach program to serve homebound senior citizens was begun.

The renovated building was reopened in March of 1992

In May 1995, a bond issue was passed by the citizens in the Geneva Area City School District to construct a new Geneva Library.

In June of 1996, the library came online with the county-wide Council of Ashtabula County Libraries Dynix circulation and cataloging system ushering in an age of easy interlibrary lending and borrowing.

In fall of 2013, the Ashtabula County District Library passed a levy to support and expand its operations and help offset cuts at the state level.

In fall of 2014, the Board approved a project to expand the existing library in Ashtabula and renovate the Geneva building using a plan developed by Ziska Architecture of Cleveland.