Fort Bend County history

The original building held 1,000 books but was quickly deemed to be insufficient for growth and a new library underwent construction in November 1948.

At a cost of $50,000 the new building opened on July 7, 1949 and held 8,111 volumes.

The building was expanded to about 6,000 square feet in 1958, enabling the library to open an historical records room, which housed the D.A.R. collection.

In 1974, two new branch libraries were opened, both named in honor of the Georges: The Mamie George Branch in Stafford and the Albert George Branch in Needville.

Bookmobile service was discontinued in 1976, as school libraries grew and branch libraries served community needs.

In 1979, The George Foundation donated land for a new main library in Richmond.

The new George Memorial Library opened in June 1986.

In 1990, the Fort Bend County library system assumed operation of the County Law Library, and a mini-branch was opened in Simonton, staffed completely by volunteers.

The 18,462-square-foot Missouri City Branch Library opened in June 1992, with an opening-day collection of 25,000 volumes.

The First Colony Branch opened the next June (1993), a 19,400 square-foot building with a capacity for 95,000 items, and costing $2,785,587.

In 1995, the second floor of George Memorial Library was renovated to include the Distance Learning and Telecommunications Center, and the audiovisual department was relocated from the first to the second floor of the building.

Albert George Branch was renovated and expanded to include a new entrance, public restrooms and a meeting room in 1997.

In May 1998, the 10,500-square-foot Bob Lutts Fulshear/Simonton Branch opened with a capacity for 50,000 items and at a cost of $1,450,617.

Katy/Fort Bend became a full-service branch in 1999, when it was relocated to leased space in the former sales office for Cinco Ranch developers.

Approximately 5,000 square feet of remaining unfinished space on the second floor of George Memorial Library was finished in early 2002.

A new library to replace the small Katy/Fort Bend Branch building was opened in 2004; it was re-named Cinco Ranch Branch Library.

In May 2006, voters approved a bond referendum which included $24.5M for the construction of three county library projects: the Sienna Branch, the University Branch, and renovations at George Memorial Library.

Sienna Branch Library, located in Missouri City, opened in April 2010.

The University Branch Library opened on November 10, 2011, on the University of Houston-Victoria campus on Highway 59 in Sugar Land.

Renovations at George Memorial Library began in May 2013.

The new administration building opened in June 2014.

In the spring of 2015, the Mamie George Branch closed for two months for minor renovations.

The Missouri City Branch closed in the summer of 2017 so that renovations and expansion of the building could begin.

Renovations and expansion of the Missouri City Branch Library were completed, and the library was re-opened to the public on June 1, 2019, with a new total of 29,467 square feet.

The groundbreaking for FBCL's next library, located on the north side of the county in Precinct 3 on the Texas Heritage Parkway in Fulshear, took place on July 19, 2021.