History
Over a Century of Turning Pages
Amarillo Public Library’s roots trace back to 1900, when twelve young women in the Just Us Girls Club decided their city needed a public library and set out to build one themselves. What started with 90 donated books and a rented room above a bank has grown, through more than a century of moves, name changes, and community support, into the library system Amarillo relies on today. Explore the milestones, buildings, and people who shaped that journey below.
The first members of the JUG Club, c. 1900. The charter members were Misses Pearl Bethune, Sue Beverley, Corrie Brower, Maude Crossett, Lave Eakle, Margaret Harrell, Stella Huff, Ollie Hughes, Clara Smith, Mamie Trigg, Floriede Ware, and Kate Williams.
Just Us Girls Club is formed.
The JUG Club Library Committee members in 1903. In the back row are Floriede Ware (Mrs. Sam Vaughn), Iva Nobles (Mrs. Frank Storm), and Trulie Works (Mrs. Bailey). In the front row are Bernice Russell (Mrs. Hayes), Mamie Trigg (Mrs. B. W. Owens), and Corrie Brower (Mrs. Jim Richardson).
The club members decide to create a library for the public. Local teacher Margaret Wills, a graduate of Vassar, agrees to sponsor the group. She secures 90 books from W.H. Bush of Chicago. Mr. Bush owned the Frying Pan Ranch. Mrs. Wills’ husband, John Hatcher Wills, was one of Potter County’s original pioneers who opened a land office in 1887 and frequently did business with Mr. Bush.
Margaret Summers (1871-1915) came to Amarillo and began teaching in 1891. She married John Hatcher Wills in 1895. A graduate of Vassar and one of Amarillo’s pioneer teachers, she sponsored the JUG Club and challenged its members to create a public library. Mrs. Wills secured the library’s first ninety books from Mr. William Henry Bush, owner of the Frying Pan Ranch. Margaret Wills Elementary is named in her honor.
The JUG Club hosts a party at Margaret Harrel’s home, and members of the community formally present the club with an additional 33 donated books.
The Bush brothers and sisters. Mr. William Henry Bush (1849-1931) appears in the middle of the back row. Mr. Bush’s first wife was Elva Glidden, daughter of barbed wire inventor Joseph Glidden. Mr. Bush and Henry Sanborn, the father of Amarillo, were both business partners of Mr. Glidden and went into business together to establish the Frying Pan Ranch. Mr. Bush, for whom Bushland is named, later became a multimillionaire when helium deposits were discovered in natural gas wells on the ranch around 1916.
Mrs. Wills presents the JUG Club with the 90 books sent by Mr. Bush.
Dr. Eli Atchinson Johnston (1850-1933) and his wife, Virginia Featherston Johnston. Dr. Johnston was one of Amarillo’s pioneer physicians. He came to Amarillo in 1900 and practiced medicine at St. Anthony’s Sanitarium. He also served as the president of the Panhandle District Medical Society and as Potter County’s Health Officer during his career. Dr. and Mrs. Johnston donated a rented room in the First National Bank that served as the library’s first location.
Dr. and Mrs. Eli Atchison Johnston donate one rented room on the second floor of the First National Bank, located at the northeast corner of 4th and Polk.
The First National Bank building, c. 1900. The library's first home was in one room on the second floor. The US Post Office was located on the ground level at the rear of the bank until 1907. Letters from JUG Club members indicate that the library was over the Post Office, so we can infer that the library was likely in the back portion of the building near the McKnight’s sign in this photo.
The JUG Library opens to the public.
The JUG Library building, located at 503 Fillmore. No known pictures of this building survived, but the surviving club members commissioned this drawing of the building for the JUG Club's 50th anniversary celebrations.
The JUG Club raises $205 to purchase a two-room wood-frame house from Mr. Ray Wheatley, which Mr. Potter allowed to be moved onto his property on the southeast corner of 5th and Fillmore, east of the Potter County courthouse. Mr. Potter’s boarding house was at 501 S. Fillmore, and the JUG library was given the address 503 S. Fillmore. Mr. Potter’s daughter was a member of the JUG Club.
The Amarillo Public Library can be seen at the right of this photograph of the Elmhirst Hotel. Formerly the Mayor's Office, this building was used as Amarillo's city hall prior to 1907. The library stayed at this location from 1907 to 1909.
The library was given the old Mayor's Office building, a single-story wood-frame house with two rooms, which was then directly east of the Elmhirst Hotel at 5th and Taylor. Newspapers indicate this building was Amarillo's city hall prior to 1907. The city government had moved to the newly built Fire Station at 4th and Tyler, and no one bid to purchase the house and move it off the lot next to the Elmhirst Hotel. Rev. Leonidas Cicero Kirkes (1866-1952) of the Fillmore Street Presbyterian Church, later the Central Presbyterian Church and now the First Presbyterian Church, coordinated the replacement of the building’s partition walls, added new paint, and had electrical services installed for lights at night. The library association was responsible for paying $3 per year in rent as the City did not own the land underneath the building.
The east side of the library building, formerly the Mayor's Office, can be seen in this photograph of Fifth and Fillmore taken from the roof of the Courthouse. The city directory indicates that the Elmhirst Hotel cafe was west of the library and T.H. Baker's bakery was to the east.
Miss Elizabeth “Bettie” M. Dorris (1852-1932) becomes the library’s first paid librarian at the age of 55. Her wages come from donations collected by the Amarillo Public Library Association and the the JUG Club as well as sporadic appropriations from the City Commission. The 1920 Census lists her occupation as librarian, so she appears to have served from 1907 to 1921. She was interred in the Patheon Mausoleum in Llano Cemetery.
Figure J: Rev. Leonidas Cicero Kirkes (1866-1952), with his wife and sons. Rev. Kirkes was president of Trinity University in San Antonio prior to his arrival in Amarillo in 1905, when he became pastor at Fillmore Presbyterian, which became Central Presbyterian Church and then eventually First Presbyterian Church. Rev. Kirkes left Amarillo for Los Angeles in 1910 after the Central Presbyterian Church completed their new building at 10th and Taylor.
Rev. Kirkes forms the first library board to support and advise the library. Its members are appointed by the city commissioners. Newspaper accounts claim that this was the first library board established in Texas.
A better view of the New Eberstadt building can be found in this picture, taken while the White and Kirk department store was under construction in 1938.
The library leaves the old city building and moves to rooms 1 and 2 of the New Eberstadt building at 603 S. Polk.
Constructed in 1907, the city's central fire station is shown to the right. City Hall, constructed in 1910, is shown to the left. Both buildings were funded with a bond election in 1905. The library moved to the 2nd floor of the fire station in 1911 and then to the 2nd floor of City Hall in 1912.
The library moves into rooms on the second floor of the Fire Station. The Fire Station and City Hall buildings were located on the northeast corner of 4th and Tyler, at the current site of the Downtown Athletic Club.
Built in 1927, the City Hall addition filled the space between the existing building and the fire station. The library occupied the second floor of the 1910 City Hall building until 1921. The 1910 City Hall, its addition, and the 1907 Fire Station were demolished in 1961. The City’s offices moved to the Municipal Auditorium until construction of a new City Hall was completed in 1966. This photo was taken in 1960.
The library moves to rooms on the second floor of city hall.
A photo of Potter County Free Library taken by then-librarian Ruth Delzell.
The Amarillo Public Library becomes the Potter County Free Library.
Potter County Library, c. 1922-1929
The Potter County Free Library building is completed and becomes the library’s first dedicated-use building. The building was also the first dedicated-use county library building ever constructed in Texas. Three other county library systems existed at that time, but none had their own building specifically designed to be a library.
Mrs. Ruth Evans Delzell, seen with a white circle around her, served as the library's director from 1927-1946. This photo was taken in 1943 with a group of Boy Scouts who were launching a book donation drive for the library. The building in the background is the Municipal Auditorium.
The Great Depression begins to be felt in earnest as book purchases are suspended, the City fails to pay its agreed supporting funds to Potter County, and staff salaries were cut. The library maintains 75 service hours per week in the face of soaring demand for services from newly unemployed residents looking for anything to help them find work and save money. Ms. Ruth Delzell, who served as director for 20 years, later remarked that these were the most challenging years during her tenure.
The Municipal Auditorium as seen from Lincoln Street. The library occupied the East Wing of the building. The auditorium was later demolished to make way for the Civic Center.
The Amarillo Public Library moves to the East Wing of the Municipal Auditorium on the 500 block of Buchanan St. It occupied 3 floors.
The George Washington Carver branch shown as it was after it closed in 1957 and became the library storage facility. Judging by the construction seen in the Downtown area, these photos were taken around 1970. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park occupies the site today.
The George Washington Carver Branch opens in North Heights, becoming the library’s second official branch under the City’s control and providing segregated service. This barracks building was moved to the site from English Field, which was formerly the Amarillo Army Air Field.
The Mary E. Bivins home was located on the southwest corner of 10th and Polk.
The City accepts the Mary E. Bivins home, which she gave to the city in her will for use as a public library or other civic building.
The Mary E. Bivins Memorial Library occupied the home between 1955 and 1975. The Chamber of Commerce currently resides there.
The library opened to the public in the Mary E. Bivins home, and its name unofficially changed from the Amarillo Public Library to the Mary E. Bivins Memorial Library.
The first Southwest Branch Library was built in 1968 to accommodate Amarillo’s growth to the southwest. The branch moved down the street to its current location in John Stiff Memorial Park in 2002. The law offices of Dean Boyd currently occupy the old branch.
The first Southwest Branch Library opens to the public at 45th and Prairie.
The North Branch Library
The North Branch Library opens to the public.
The East Branch Library
The East Branch Library opens to the public.
The Downtown Library
The Downtown Library opens to the public.
The new Southwest Branch Library is built.
The Northwest Branch Library located off of 9th Avenue near the Amarillo Boulevard.
The Northwest Branch Library is built.
A look inside the MakerSpace with patrons working on a variety of crafts and hobbies.
The MakerSpace opens on the second floor of the Downtown Library. This space aims to be as inclusive as possible in what it offers, stocking everything from sewing machines and shop tools to classic arts and crafts supplies.