• 1864 Charles Arthur Ely, son of Elyria’s founder, died and left a Will establishing a public
library for Elyria and the vicinity.

• 1870 The library began operation with 2,000 books. Fines were five cents per day, which remained until 2003.

• 1873 The library was destroyed by fire and rebuilt. The new building was built on the site
currently held by Loomis Camera.

• 1900 Steam heat was added to the building.

• 1901 Electric lights and ceiling fans were added to the facility.

• 1902 The Elyria Board of Education secured a .6 mil operating levy.

• 1908 A telephone and typewriter were added to the library.

• 1914 The collection reached 26,232 volumes and annually circulated 58,000.

• 1915 The first Children’s Librarian was hired.

• 1916 The operating levy ended.

• 1920 The library received $5,000 from the Community Chest.

• 1929 The Broad Street building sold for $60,000 and the Dr. Reefy house was purchased
for $30,000. An addition was built onto the house to accommodate more library materials.

• 1934 The first collection of an intangibles tax on stocks and bonds gave the library $18,000.

• 1938 School library service was re-established.

• 1948 The library became a charter member of the first cooperative film circuit in the U.S.

• 1965 Kiwanis spearheaded a fund drive for a new library building.

• 1966 The library was designated as a U.S. Federal Government Documents Depository.

• 1967 The Main Library opened on Washington Avenue.

• 1979 The Friends of the Elyria Public Library was established.

• 1981 The Nord Foundation grant allowed access to on-line databases.

• 1982 The King Fauver Memorial Fund made it possible to automate material cataloguing.

• 1984 The Ethelyn Smith bequest made it possible to meet a 35% matching fund requirement
for a $102,000 Bookmobile grant. The Greater Lorain County Community Foundation gave
a grant enabling Project: READ to begin. The Curtis and Jesse Spence fund made it possible
to join CLEVNET, an on-line cataloguing computer system. Videocassettes were added to the collection and a front parking lot was added.

• 1985 The Bookmobile started service throughout the Elyria and Keystone areas.

• 1986 The Lewis Miller Trust and the Ethelyn Smith Trust made possible the purchase of
more library books. Conversion to an on-line catalogue and circulation system was completed. Compact Disks were added to the collection

• 1987 The Keystone School District and the Village of Lagrange requested to be officially
defined as part of the library’s service area along with the Elyria School District.

• 1988 Framed art for lending was initiated. The Blue Ribbon Long-Range Planning Committee
was formed from citizen organizations.

• 1991 The November bond issue was passed to build West River Library, but an operating
levy failed.

• 1992 The Washington Avenue Library was renovated. Ground was broken for the
newly designed West River Library. The Library joined the Cleveland Area Metropolitan
Library System.

• 1993 CLEVNET added more data-bases including Medline. The State of Ohio reduced
the 6.3% personal income tax revenues to 5.7%

• 1994 West River Library opened. Lack of funding lead to staff and budget cutbacks.

• 1995 Office and Professional Employees’ International Union Local 17 was ratified.

• 1999 The New Bookmobile was on the road.

• 2000 The Neighborhood Center Branch opened. The old Bookmobile served to open the LaGrange Library.

• 2001 The State of Ohio froze the Library and Local Government Support Fund distribution levels.

• 2003 The Keystone-LaGrange Community Library opened. The Audio/Visual Department
at Central Library was moved to the first floor.

• 2004 Twenty staff members were laid off in January after the levy failed in November ‘03.
The operating levy passed in March. Staff members were recalled in April.

• 2005 Joined MORE—Moving Ohio Resources Everywhere— a statewide resource-sharing network connecting the Elyria Public Library with more than 100 participating libraries statewide.

• 2006 The Branch at Neighborhood Center moved to Hamilton School in partnership with
Lorain County Community Action Agency Head Start Program and Elyria City Schools. It
was re-named the South Branch Library.

• 2007 The state if Ohio moves library funding from 5.7% of the personal income tax revenue
to 2.22% of the General Tax Revenue. Land is purchased in LaGrange Township for future
possible expansion in the Keystone School District. 

• 2008 The New North Branch Library opens in the Barbara and Mike Bass Library/Community Resource Center on the campus of Lorain County Community College, first in the state of Ohio.