The Gail Borden Public Library District will be celebrating 150 years of service in 2024. This community holds the distinct honor of being the first in the state to establish a public library by vote on April 2, 1872, after the State of Illinois passed the ‘Free Library Act” in March of 1872. Much of the impetus for this act followed the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the gift of books from England with bookplates that were inscribed with "Her Majesty the Queen Victoria." The library doors opened in 1874 in a building located where the Tower Building now stands in downtown Elgin.
We are asking everyone to celebrate with us. We will have programs, exhibits, ornaments and more. We will also be asking people to tell their library stories as we are so happy that so many people visit the buildings and the bookmobile.
There will be a timeline detailing how the Church brothers' donation of the Scofield mansion to be used as a library was predicated on it being named "Gail Borden" after their beloved stepfather, the move to new buildings as library usage and the local population grew, and how service to this community has changed from users not being able to enter the stacks to select their books to now, where users can download books from wherever they are in the world.
We plan to describe the many ways that library services, buildings and vehicles have changed as the community needs have evolved. From a small collection of books in 1874, the library now offers eBooks, videos, streaming services, programs, exhibits and more. The library has offered all manner of formats from printed books to eBooks to audio Books and from LP records, to beta, to VCRs, to CDs to streaming. In the last few years, library staff helped to lead the 2020 Census effort as well as the Pandemic Assistance Team. While circulating printed and eBooks (offering materials in 10 different languages in addition to English) remains a mainstay for library offerings, the services now encompass so much more including Passport processing and License Plate Renewal. Now the library newsletter annually carries a listing of many library services that people might not know about.
We are extremely honored to serve this community. We are so pleased that we have had to re-order the 150th ornament four times due to demand.
We thank the Gail Borden Public Library Foundation for supporting the holiday lights in honor of the 150th at all locations. (See below).
We plan to keep everyone up to date on all 150th activities that will happen throughout the year. Please visit https://gailborden.info/150 often.
January Program - Elgin historian and Gail Borden Foundation Director, Jerry Turnquist, will talk about the library’s beginnings to the premier institution it is today in a special 150th program, Gail Borden Library Celebrates 150 Years. The program will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 30 in the Main Library, 270 N. Grove Ave., Elgin. Please register for the program at gailborden.info/register, by calling 847-429-4597 or at any library location.
Denise Raleigh / Division Chief, Public Relations & Development