Lake Library Through the Years

                 In 1935 in a small building that had been a barber shop and had the Masonic Lodge as its upstairs neighbor, the first Lake Library was formed.  It was started as part of the Economic Recovery Act (a depression program.  Mrs. Edyth Jones Mc Combs was the first librarian.  Her salary was small and provided from funds through the Works Progress Administration.  This enabled her to be open a few hours each week to allow people to check out books and hold a story hour as it was called then. 

                In 1937, women and children from the community gathered in the Sunday School rooms of the Lake Baptist Church for a fundraiser sponsored by the Rose Garden Club.  It was a lemonade tea party.  Each person brought a lemon and when the lemon was cut, every seed was counted.  For each seed, a penny was paid into a fund to buy books for the town library.  After the seeds were counted and the money was paid, the lemons were used to make lemonade and served with cookies.  Even a penny was a sacrifice in those days, but in a world with no televisions or internet, books were a much-needed pastime as well.  This is one of many types of fundraisers practiced through the years.

                Sometime around 1937-8, the library was moved into a small room in the new grammar school and remained there for over a decade. In 1942, Mrs. McCombs moved to Hattiesburg and the library was run by volunteers including Mrs. Erline Street, Mrs. Myrtle Monk, and Mrs. Gussie Wilkerson. They would travel to the Forest Library, which was partly funded through county taxes, each week and borrow several boxes of books.  This gave a wider variety of books for the readers to choose from. 

                During WWII, Mrs. Laura Cole Smythe became the volunteer librarian.  There were more books on the shelf by now, but fundraising was still needed.  The Rose Garden Club continued to offer a variety of programs to help with this.  One that was very popular was held on July 22, 1949.  It was an entertainment program that included a “Tom Thumb Wedding” and raised $200!

                The Town Board of Lake has always been a great supporter of the library.  On November 5, 1946, they passed an order to contribute a monthly sum of $7.50 to the library, and on October 7, 1947, it was voted to continue the support for an indefinite period.  This money could have been used to give Mrs. Smythe a small salary or to purchase books and supplies.  In August 1948, $100 was given to purchase books.  In November 1950, a committee was formed to sponsor the library and by February 1951, Mrs. Smythe’s salary was increased to $30 a month which included her shared duties as the librarian and town clerk.

                In August 1952 Mrs. Smythe resigned and Mrs. Mary Weems was employed to succeed her.  It was during this time that Scott County entered the Capital Area Regional Library System.  You can still find books in the Lake Library with the stamp from this system today. 

                In 1955, under the approval of the CARL System and town board, the library was moved to a new location.  There was a town building that was partially rented as a grocery store by Mr. Thornton.  The area used as the feed room was remodeled and then used for the town office, the post office, and the library.  Now with more space, Mrs. Weems was able to have classes visit from the school and have special programs for the children in the summer.

                Mrs. Weems retired after fifteen years in 1967.  She was succeeded by Mrs. Mary Lucy Monk who served until October 1970.  Then Mrs. Brenda Martin was hired, and she served in this position until January 1981. Her mother, Mrs. Rachel Vance was then hired and worked until October 1986.

                During this time, the library continued to be housed in the same location.  It had been almost twenty years and the building was starting to deteriorate.  The roof was leaking, and the foundation had shifted causing cracks in the walls.  The post office moved to a new building in 1964.  The town had been saving to either renovate or build a new building.  After the front façade and part of the top of the building collapsed onto the sidewalk in front of the door to the library, it was decided to tear down the current building and rebuild on the same site.  The library and town office were temporarily moved into the home of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Harris for ten months.  On July 5, 1976, a Bicentennial program was held with a ribbon cutting at the new building.  

                Buildings weren’t the only changes taking place.  The Capital Area Regional Library System merged with the Jackson Metropolitan Library System and Lake Library remained there until the Central Mississippi Regional Library System was formed in October 1986.  Mrs. Rachel Vance remained through all these changes, but Mrs. Jean Evans started in November 1986 with the system that the library is still under today.  While Mrs. Evans was the librarian, the mayor (her husband) gave the library his office for use because it needed more space.  This allowed her to move the library desk from the foyer to the office and have some room for storage and checking out books. She resigned in November 1994 after the passing of her husband.   

                Mrs. Dorothy Vance took over in 1995 and the current librarian, Mrs. Selena Swink was hired in March 1997.  The library still wasn’t done growing either.  In 1999, it was automated, and books were no longer stamped at check out or cards signed to keep track of who had them. Everything was now done on the computer.  In 2008, the “new” town hall underwent a remodel.  The garage in the back of the building which had housed the fire department was transformed into a modern library.  The area of the building that had once held the library became a meeting room that could also be used for library programs too large to fit in the library.  The library has gone from being open nine hours a week in 1997 to being open twenty hours a week in 2014. It has also won branch of the year in CMRLS in the years 2013, 2016, and most recently 2022. 

                Every achievement that Lake Library has seen through the years is because of the support of the community.  In Lake, we know we are small and humble, so we appreciate what we have and work to promote progress in our town and we aren’t done growing yet.