R. T. Prince Memorial Library: The Journey to Becoming a real Library

 R.T. Prince Memorial library was first established in 1960. The library was originally located in the Mize Community Center. The library's grand opening was held on July 15, 1962, from 3-5pm. From 1960-1980 the library was part of the “Capital Area Regional Library System.” In 1981, the library became part of the “Jackson Metropolitan Library System.” The library remained in the “Jackson Metropolitan Library System” until 1989. From 1989 to the present, the library has been under the “Central Mississippi Regional Library System.” In 1995, the library was moved to its current location on HWY 28. Its current location was originally a health department. The following year after relocating the library was dedicated as R.T. Prince Memorial Library. In 2008, a “Friends of the Library” group was created. The friend group is one of the best assets to the library. The library has been through many changes over the years, from location to hours, to everything in between. No matter these changes, it has always managed to remain open and available to the public. As of December 8, 2015, the friends of the library built a tardis. The tardis is a “little free library” based on the popular Dr. Who series.

The library moved again during COVID, 2020-2021. The location was closed in March 2020 for COVID and remained closed until January 2021. In January the R. T. Prince Memorial Library opened its door in the Old Trustmark Bank building at 302 Hwy. 28 West.  This move doubled the size of the Library and provided more room to have Summer Library Programs and more parking!

The library has two public computers, Wi-Fi access, books, DVDs, and a few blue rays. The R. T. Prince Memorial Library is also home to a drive-through feature, the only one in the whole system! Yes! Patrons can use it! Make a request online and make sure your pickup location is Mize.

The Prince can also brag that we had the first child in the Central Mississippi Regional Library System who completed the 1,000 Books before Kindergarten! Her name is Ashley McAlister. The Friends group treated her to a T-shirt, and a Walmart gift card and she was the star of the Christmas parade float.

The Blue Tardis was the Little Free Library outside of the Library. Since the Library could not be open more than 10 hours a week, Dick Ford and the Friends of the Library wanted to give the community the opportunity to read more books.  They sold the high school annuals on CD to raise the funds for the building of the  Tardis. It was a community favorite until a storm came in 2019 and created damage to the doors and the top of the box. It has been greatly missed. As soon as the Tardis is repaired, it will come home to the new building. 

The future looks bigger and brighter for the Prince but it will take the community to increase it more! Come by and see the crowning glory of this community. 

 

 

 

 

Pearl Public Library: Humble Beginnings

The Pearl River, which separates Pearl on the East side from Jackson on the West today, initially brought settlers to the area for agricultural purposes. Jackson, MS became the state capitol in 1822. In the 1940s, development from the capital city spilled over into Rankin county and more and more residents were calling it home. 

As all members of a civilized society will tell you, the town needed a library!  Residents of Rankin County were growing tired of having to cross the river and go to Jackson for basic needs. One library patron recalls having to go to Jackson for decent clothing at Howard's Department Store on Ellis Ave. Jackson also had the only children's clinic near the Jackson Mall off of Medgar Evers Blvd. All library needs were also being met in the capital city. In 1966, a library was established in Bright Shopping Center in what is now the Country Fisherman Cafe. 

City of Pearl Historian Chris Reid shared the following about the new library construction: 

In July of 1976, the Pearl Board of Alderman approved a contract with architect Charles F. Craig for the construction of a new library. By April 1977, the library's construction was well underway. The effort began 9 years earlier when the Director of the Rankin County Library System, Vance H. Dyess, applied for a matching grant through the Mississippi Library Commission to build a new library. Under the terms of the grant, the $400,000 construction cost would be split equally between the Library Commission and the City of Pearl, as funds became available to the Commission from the state legislature. When Dyess first applied for the grant, Pearl was No. 36 on the list and it took until 1976 to move to the No. 1 spot.

Unfortunately by 1977, the city was plagued with infrastructure issues and many citizens felt that the $200,000 price tag that Pearl was responsible for could be put to better use elsewhere. It was a hard choice -- either build at that time, and at the minimum square footage of 15,000 or lose any chance of getting the grant again. 

Fortunately, the need for a library won out! On November 14, the former library closed and began transitioning its materials (some 20,000 volumes) to the new facility at 3470 Highway 80 East. On January 15, 1978, the grand opening was held with guest speakers Evelyn Gandy, Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi, Jim Buck Ross, Commissioner of Agriculture, and Mayor Harris Harvey.

The Pearl Press - March 3, 1977

The Pearl Press - April 21, 1977

In October of 1986, Hinds County pulled out to create its own library system and the Pearl Library became the Headquarters location for a brand new library system! That's right folks, the Central Mississippi Regional Library System was born. 

"The Library on the Hill" 1987

Penny Donald Stewart, a former Pearl Library shelver shared a story with us: "In high school, I worked as a shelver at the library on the hill during the evening and weekend hours. Before we used computers to do research (aka the internet), I took a phone call from a gentleman wanting to know what "E pluribus unum" on the back of our currency meant. We did not have any research librarians that worked in the evenings so I went on a search on my own. After checking latin dictionaries and the like I recruited Billy, my shelving co-worker. We searched for quite some time when I had the thought to use the World Book encyclopedias in the children's department. There it was! E pluribus unum meaning "out of many, one" referring to the thirteen original colonies becoming one nation."

She went on to say, "That experience helped solidify my desire to work as a librarian even though it took me another 25 years to return to the library world. The fact that sometimes the simplest, easiest tool can be the best was a lesson I never forgot."

Penny is now a Patron Services Specialist at Blount County Public Library in Maryville, TN.

The Rankin County News featured the Pearl Library weekly and here are some updates from August 1987. As you can see, the library has changed a lot since then! The library is boasting a purchase of Reader's Guide as far back as 1930 and magazines dating from 1980. Also, new VHS tapes on home improvement and the ACT have been acquired. The Babysitters Club series is available, and boy that brings me back! The Pearl Library in this location was right up the hill from my house growing up. My sister and I would walk there and check out all of the Babysitters Club and Goosebumps books. 

In 2005, a brand new library was built in the current location at 2416 Old Brandon Road right next to the old high school which is now City Hall. Today we have numerous digital resources, a computer lab, programs for every age group, and our card catalogs are all online. But as former Pearl staffer Penny says, sometimes the simplest way to find information is through an encyclopedia or physical book. Good thing we still have plenty of those too! 

Harrisville Public Library, Where the Community Comes Together

         Before we get to the story of the Harrisville Library, I feel that you need to know a little bit about the history of the community.

    Harrisville is located 13 miles West of Mendenhall. The community wasn't always known as Harrisville. When the community was established it was called "Buck Snort". When they established the post office in 1860, the name was changed to Harrisville after H. H. Harris who settled in the community prior to 1860. 

    Driving through Harrisville now you wouldn't believe it was once a bustling little town. H. C. Carrot was the first postmaster, along with running the post office he ran a general store. J. T. Rodger built a grist mill & sawmill in the early days. The school was taught in the Methodist Church until 1890 when a nice two-story schoolhouse was built. in the 1900s a rice mill, a cotton gin, and a blacksmith shop were also built. At the turn of the century, Harrisville boasted three general stores, a drug store, a blacksmith shop, four doctors, two churches, a school, and a Masonic Lodge. All that was missing was a library.

    In 1974 The Harrisville Library Committee was formed. It was sponsored by the Senior Citizens Club. When the library was first formed it was first located in a storage room of a store owned by the Iveys'. It contained about four shelves and had about five hundred books that were supplied by the MS Library Commission. In 1977, Willie Jean Shorter, who was a member of the Friends of the Library Group was drafted by the community as a volunteer Librarian. She served in a volunteer capacity for many years before becoming a paid staff member. Harrisville Public Library became part of the Jackson Metropolitan Library, then in 1986 the system split and Rankin, Scott, Smith, and Simpson formed the Central Mississippi Regional Library System.

    When the library began to outgrow the location at Ivey's store, two more buildings were used, one at the school and the other at a small building not far from its current location. That building is still standing but in bad shape. Patrons that were children at the time tell me that it had a small room downstairs where Mrs. Shorter held story time and library events.

    The community wanted more, they wanted a "real" library. In 1990 the Friends started fundraising and seeking donations from businesses and private donors. On April 17, 1991, groundbreaking ceremonies were held on land donated by the county. The community did it, through fundraising and donations they raised the money to build their real library. To help keep down the cost of the building, community members donated their time, skills, and labor to build the library. In February 1993, the Harrisville Community cut the ribbon to open their new building. On April 18, 1993, they held a dedication ceremony inviting the public and state representatives to enjoy their new library. There is a plaque in the library with the names of individuals, businesses, and organizations that helped build the library.

    Mrs. Willie Jean Shorter went on the serve as a librarian for many more years until her retirement. After Mrs. Shorter's retirement, Harrisville Library had several more librarians until June 2013, when Kathie Ward was hired for the position.

    The summer library program has always been very popular and continues to bring in kids from all over the community. We have added more programs over the years such as bingo, family game night, craft programs, etc. We also have computers for the public to use along with free WiFI. Services we offer include, faxing, black & white and color printing, and scanning to email. We have several digital resources as well including, World Book Encyclopedia, Freegal Music (free legal music - downloads and streaming), Cloud Library (eBook & e Audios), Rocket Language, Flipster (digital magazines), and so much more and more to come.

    The Harrisville Library has come a long way since 1974. If you haven't been in the library in a while, I would like to encourage you to stop by. Check out our new books, and our DVD collection, or just stop in for a visit with Mrs. Kathie.

    I wanted to include some photos that I found while searching for information on the library. Some are articles from past programs at the old library(s) and others are pictures from the school and community. 

Picture of County Librarians at a reception for the retirement of  Marian Lyons, director in charge of extension from the Metropolitan Library System. Willie Jean Shorter is on the far right end. 

Date unknown

Old Tally-Ho parked in front of Harrisville Consolidated School pictured was dated 1918.

A fleet of eight T-model open touring buses -"Tally-hos" - transported high school as well as elementary students.

Santa Visits the Library. These boys and girls made sure to stop by and let Santa know that they were on the nice list this year. Date unknown

Summer Reading Program winners and participants. Date unknown.

Dr. Neely served the community for 50+ years. On his 50th anniversary of serving the community, 

the community gave him a 1949 Ford.

Last is a poem written by one of the local citizens titled

"Who's Who in Harrisville" included you will see a picture of what downtown Harrisville looked like.