In 1892, retired Galena merchant Benjamin Franklin Felt petitioned the city council to fund a free public library, and when the council refused, he and his daughter Anna opened their parlor as a lending library. Two years later, Felt offered to cover the full cost of starting a library, donate 1,200 books, and secure and pay for a location, on the condition that after two years the city would assume operation of the library through a tax of forty cents per household per year. The proposal won strong public support, and the city council accepted it. Felt also required that four of the nine Library Board trustees be women, a provision noted as unusual enough that the Chicago Evening Post remarked on Galena's leadership. Anna Felt became the first financial secretary of the Board of Trustees and remained a trustee until her death in 1953. The Galena Public Library and Reading Room opened on January 3, 1895, on the second floor of the old Post Office, formerly the Customs House, with rules barring anarchistic, atheistic, or immoral books, excluding people with contagious disease, and requiring perfect quiet in the Reading Room. Within a few years the library had become overcrowded, and in 1905 Board president David Sheean approached Andrew Carnegie, who offered $12,500 if a site were provided and the city would maintain the library. The B. F. Felt Estate matched Carnegie's offer and also provided land. Anna Felt bought the library lot and insisted that it be visible from the heart of town, and to preserve views from Main Street and Park Avenue, she purchased additional property while the Stillman family donated land in front of the library, creating Library Park. The cornerstone of the new library was laid on April 27, 1907. Built of Indiana limestone in Classical Greek Style with Prairie Style elements in the interior, the building included two glass mosaic fireplaces given by Emma Robb, who originated the children's story hour and was a family friend of the Felts, and wrought iron stacks reused from the old Post Office library. The completed library was dedicated and opened to the public on July 4, 1908. Benjamin Felt, Anna Felt, and David Sheean were its three indispensable founders, and trustees, librarians, and patrons continued to contribute to its success through the years.