Clark County Public Library history

The Clark County Public Library had its first real beginnings around the year 1841 with what was then known as the Springfield Lyceum.

The library housed 3,300 volumes when it opened to the public at this location in 1872.

As patronage and the collection expanded, the need for yet another move set in and the library relocated in 1877 to the second floor of the Union Hall Building, which was situated on what is today Fountain Avenue.

Local entrepreneur Benjamin Warder gave the library a new location on the southwest corner of East High and South Spring Streets in 1890 with a building constructed in memory of his parents, and dedicated to the people of Springfield.

Lois Lenski was born October 14, 1893 in Springfield, Ohio.

The family moved from Springfield to Anna, Ohio in 1899.

Encouraged by others to write her own stories to accompany her drawings, Skipping Village, her first book, was published in 1927.

The year 1936 saw the first Bookmobile service to the area, with a homemade trailer that could carry 500 books.

In 1946, she was awarded the Newbery Medal for Strawberry Girl, one of the regional American series.

The Children’s Room of the Warder Public Library was named the Lenski Room in honor of her sixtieth birthday in October 1953.

The Main Library moved to its new state-of-the-art facility on Fountain Avenue in 1989.