Library History
| Library History in Pictures |
| Children's Room History in Pictures |
| 1887 | The City of Fullerton was founded. | |
| 1888 | The Gem Pharmacy, owned by William J. Starbuck, ran a "traveling library" supported by private donations. Books could be checked out free of charge. | |
| 1902 | Mrs. James Dean opened a "free reading room" on the NW corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Spadra (now called Harbor Boulevard). It was intended to fill the idle hours of oil field and migrant workers. | |
| 1906 | The City Fathers established a free public library under Ordinance No. 46 two years after the City incorporated. Population 2,000. | |
| 1907 | The City's first library building was erected on the NW corner of Pomona and Wilshire Avenues with a $10,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie. | |
| 1927 | A separate Children's Library was built as an annex to the Carnegie library. Mary Campbell served as the first children's librarian. Later the building was relocated to Hillcrest Park for use by the American Red Cross. | |
| 1942 | The Carnegie Library was razed to make way for a new building on the same site. The construction project was funded by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the federal government. Population 11,000. Today this building houses the Fullerton Museum Center. | |
| 1955 | The City introduced the very first bookmobile in Orange County. Population 43,412. | |
| 1961 | The Friends of the Fullerton Public Library was established. | |
| 1962 | Norton Simon and the Hunt Food & Industries Foundation, donated a building and park located in SW Fullerton, to the City on the condition that it is "used solely for a public library and public library park." The donation became known as the Hunt Branch and is located at 201 S. Basque Avenue. Population 64,100. | |
| 1971 | A joint powers agreement was entered into between the County of Orange and the City of Fullerton for the purpose of issuing $1.3 million in revenue bonds to finance construction of a new Main Library on Commonwealth Avenue. | |
| 1972 | Ostrich Eggs for Breakfast; a History of Fullerton for Boys and Girls, written by children's librarian Dora May Sim and illustrated by Wanda Collins, was first printed. The book would become required reading for all Fullerton public school third grade students. | |
| 1973 | The new Main Library at 353 W. Commonwealth Avenue was dedicated. The former library at the corner of Pomona and Wilshire Avenues would later become home to the Fullerton Museum Center. Population 90,000. | |
| 1986 | The Fullerton Public Library became the first public library in Orange County to computerize the checking out of books by barcoding books and library cards. | |
| 1987 | For the first time in its history, the Library checked out more than one million items in a single year. | |
| 1994 | The Fullerton Public Library was the last public library in Orange County to replace the card catalog with computer terminals for public use. The Fullerton Public Library Foundation was established. Population 119,500. | |
| 1997 | The City Council approved the Library Board of Trustees' plans to expand the Main Library. The City launched the library's first web page. Population 125,000. | |
| 1999 | Construction began on a $1.6 million expansion of the Main Library funded primarily with a Redevelopment bond. The Children's Library closed for 12 months during construction. | |
| 2000 | The Library Foundation raised $318,000 in support of the Children's Library expansion and for library technology. The Friends of the Library contributed an additional $45,000 towards the expansion project. A new bookmobile arrived. The Main Library received a generous gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for new public computers and a technology lab. Internet service became accessible to the public. A self-checkout machine at the Main Library was installed. Population 128,255. | |
| 2005 | The Library began digitizing photographs in the local history collection and making them available via the Internet and the library's catalog. Both the Main Library and the Hunt Branch became wi-fi hotspots, supporting laptop computer connections to the Library's databases and the Internet. Population 135,672. | |
Document last modified: Tuesday, 12-Dec-2006 14:57:51 PST
