MOVING IN. Jacinto City Branch Librarian Cynthia Lockwood,
bottom, hands assistant librarian Missy Edgmon some books as they \
nove into the new library at 921 Akron St. An open house for the new
ibrary will be held Jan. 9 from 2 to 4p.m.
City opens
new
library
By WILL BLACKLOCK
News Editor 5
МЫ
Instead of a new year, Jacinto City library patrons may feel like
they are looking into a new era when they visit the new Harris
County branch library during an open house Jan. 9.
The new library at 921 Akron, named for former Jacinto City
Mayor A.J. “Bert” Holder, will officially open for business at
noon Jan. 10, but a grand opening celebration is planned for Jan. 9
from 2 to 4 p.m.
The first impression most patrons will notice is the extra elbow
room they will have as the new library is 3,980 square feet —
almost twice as big as the old library on Mercury Drive.
“It is a big improvement,” says Cynthia Lockwood, branch
librarian. “There will be a lot more places to sit, and we will also
have new children’s furniture. The old building was never meant
to be a library”
Eileen Brightwell, with inspiration from her two-year-old son
Travis, helped furnish the children’s library with a $5,000 donation
to buy furniture.
“On our visits to the children’s space in the former library
quarters, I was repelled by the dingy surroundings and crowded
conditions,” says Brightwell. “A children’s room should be bright.
I saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put some money
in something that will benefit people for a long time to come.”
The old library was recently closed and movers brought the
library’s 17,800 volumes over to the new library this week.
The new building’s extra room will allow for lots of extra books.
“Harris County was able to find about $31,000 in last year’s
budget to order new books for the library and they will be coming
in over the next few months,” says Lockwood.
The old library, which also served as the city’s first city hall,
opened June 29, 1958. For 31 years Dorothy Bowyer served as the
librarian until her retirement in 1989.
“In the late 40s some people had an interest in a library, but the
county turned it down, because they didn’t want to put a branch in
an incorporated city,” says Bowyer. “I was encouraged to ap¬
proach the county again, and we finally got approval. We used a
bookmobile before we finally got the branch library.”
Once the library was approved, thd old city hall was moved
from its location on Market Street to Wilke Park on Mercury
□ See JACINTO, page 9A
□ Jacinto City
opens library
Continued from page 1A
\ Drive. An addition was built onto
* the library at a later date. Holder
»
was mayor of Jacinto City when
' the branch library opened.
r “A new library is badly need¬
ed,” says Bowyer. “I’m really
thrilled to see the city get a new
• library.”
»
Lockwood says she is sorry to
: see the library move from such a
visible location on Mercury. How¬
ever, she says the Akron location
: will also have some advantages.
“The kids won’t have to cross
such a busy street, and our park¬
ing lot will be a lot bigger and
more accessible,” says Lockwood.
This is the fourth library Harris
County will have opened since the
^beginning of last year, and the
►: fifth one should come in March
with the opening of the new North
•• Channel Library on Wallis ville
Road.
