History of the Library

The Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library has a rich history. After several unsuccessful attempts to establish a library, the permanent library finally opened on September 12, 1894, in the basement of the courthouse offices of Judge C. W. Tyler. Miss Sina Harvey was appointed as the first librarian.

The library remained in that location until 1900, when it moved to the home of J. C. Atkinson on the corner of 3rd & Franklin Street. In 1901, the Federation of Women’s Clubs, with Mrs. H. C. Merritt as its president, decided to take the library under its wing. It wasn’t until 1912 that the Women’s Club bought the McDaniel home for its headquarters and moved the library into its downstairs rooms. One of the earliest librarians at this location was Mrs. B. A. Woodard, a position that she held from 1923-1940.

The library board decided in 1923 that the city needed a free public library. Before that time, each patron paid a yearly fee to become users of the facilities. By 1927, there were 1098 patrons enrolled at the library. The library did not start using the Dewey Decimal System until 1943. The library’s popularity grew, and it joined the Regional Library System in 1948.

With this continued growth, it was decided that the library needed to expand beyond the Women’s Club umbrella and become its own entity. It moved out of the Women’s Club building in 1958 and into the American Snuff Company Building.

By 1959, the library became the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library.

With the building of a new Health Department building near the Memorial Hospital, the county put the library in the old health department building at 329 Main Street in 1962, where it remained until its move to its present location in 1995.

The Friends of the Library organization was established in 1974 and since then the Friends have raised a great deal over the years in the way of much-needed financial support outside the library’s budget. The group became tax-exempt in 1984. The Friends of the Library fundraising book sales continue their popularity each spring and fall.

The 1990s was an amazing decade of growth for the library. The MARC system of cataloging material was added to services at the library in 1990. In 1991, Mrs. Finley Elder Gracey left a sizable bequest to the library.

In 1994, a new location for the library was found and purchased. County Executive Robert Thompson was honored for his work in the expansion of the library and its relocation as the anchor in the plaza that eventually became the county government center known as Veterans Plaza.

After the library moved into the present 74,000 square-foot facility, Internet access for patrons was added. Free computer classes were very popular with the patrons and continue to remain so. Useful research databases have been added and are available not only inside the library but from home as well. The Tennessee Electronic Library also came into being, bringing even more titles to the ever-growing full-text periodicals available through the library.

After the move to Venerans Plaza, the Youth Services Department became a state leader in innovative and engaging youth programs. Special events include the Summer Reading Program, featuring storytellers, magicians, and puppeteers, just to name a few performers. Thousands of children are served each summer through these exciting events. Regular programming is offered the rest of the year, as well, for newborns all the way up to teenagers about to graduate. Popular special programs include the “Read With Me” program, where children read stories to therapy dogs, and a Lego program for the whole family. In 2005, the teen program was born and is going strong with the creation of a Teen Advisory Board, which helps plan teen programming. Anime Club is a very popular monthly program that continues.

The Youth Services Department reaches out to the community in many ways, through programming for schools, Head Start programs and daycares, community events, and more! In 2010, Jean Nichols, the then-current head of the children’s and young adult department at the library, was recognized by the Tennessee Library Association with the awarding of the Dan Brown Memorial Award for her dedicated work in enhancing programming for children and youth.

Genealogy continues to be a popular resource at the library. The collection was originally started by former county historian Ursula Beach and has since grown from a small broom closet to the current Brown Harvey, Sr. Genealogy Room, one of the largest in the state.

The collection includes a wide range of books, microfilm, and vertical files for those researching their ancestors. It also offers databases that allow users to explore records beyond Tennessee, covering the entire U.S. and even other countries. Genealogy classes and seminars continue to be well-attended, and Information Services offers several finding aids available here. The department now fields inquiries from across the U.S. through emails, letters, and phone calls.

In 2005, the Tennessee Governor Phil Bredeson made several appearances at the public library to introduce the Imagination Library program, which was started by Dolly Parton. This program gives free books to each child in the county who signs up for the program. The child receives one book a month until the age of 5.

Also in 2005, the library received a generous bequest from the estates of Howell C. Smith, Sr. and Howell C. Smith, Jr., which resulted in the reorganization of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Library Foundation to what it is today.

Over the years, the library has been the recipient of generous donations, both large and small, by various individuals and groups. In a special note, in September 2003, the library learned that it would receive $500 from the estate of Linda K. Gronlund, who was killed on flight #93 on 9/11/2001.

In February 2006, the library’s book collection grew in a brand new way with the advent of the eBook. A new statewide program called R.E.A.D.S. was implemented, which allows patrons to “check out” downloadable eBooks through the library’s webpage. That program has evolved to what is now known as the Libby app.

In 2009, through a special project funded by the Library Foundation, the library constructed a new Public Services area and made the leap to a self-checkout system of library materials using RFID technology. This change has been embraced by library customers as they find convenience in self-service, including self-payment of fees with the use of optional credit card payment and the elimination of previous waiting periods in lines to check out. 

The main library spaces continue to be reimagined, with the patron's experience at the forefront of all new updates. Still very popular and almost famous in the community is the atrium floor with a map of Montgomery County, which was added as what we call the Main Refresh. Taking place in the mid-2010s, this refresh added much-needed group meeting rooms on the second floor, as well as a beautiful teen area called The Loft and a quiet space with furniture next to the genealogy room and the bathrooms were renovated. In addition to those upgrades, a Makerspace was added on the first floor along with the Sorting Room, which houses the automated material handling machine (AMH) The AMH machine checks in and sorts library materials automatically allowing for material to be returned to the shelves much faster and freeing up staff members to assist patrons. 

On March 22, 2024 ground was broken for the North Branch facility, which will be located at the intersection of Purple Heart Parkway and Jordan Rd. The North Branch will offer full library services by providing children’s and teen spaces, a makerspace, and much-needed meeting room spaces for the public, along with computers and high-speed internet. 

The library looks forward to continuing to be a leader in providing essential services and keeping its place as a nexus for the community as it transitions to a library system structure.