Education
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The La Porte, Texas branch of the Harris County Public Library began in June 1921 with 110 books placed in La Porte High School. In 1923, increased adult patronage led to the library's move to quieter and larger quarters in the La Porte Hardware Store, then owned by Mrs. Claire Slusher. In February 1925, the La Porte Chamber of Commerce agreed to pay a librarian four dollars per month, with the county paying a small additional sum on an hourly basis, and the library was open two days a week. In 1928, Gladys Harrison, president of the PTA, began a drive to build a community library, and she, Mrs. F. T. Baldwin, president of the Ladies Reading Club, and Mrs. Wilbur Smith, chairman of the Red Cross, signed a note for materials to build a 15 foot by 28 foot wood frame building. The Presbyterian Church, now the Community Church, donated the grounds, construction with free labor began in 1928, and the building was dedicated and opened in February 1929. In 1941, during World War II, a partition and another door were added so the Red Cross and Air Raid Warden could share the building. It served as the City Library from 1929 to 1967, when a new building opened at 526 San Jacinto Street. In 2002, the original 1928 library building was given to the La Porte Bay Area Heritage Society, moved to the grounds of the Heritage Society's Depot Museum, restored, and filled with books, newspapers, and magazines popular in La Porte's earlier days. The old library opened to the public again in 2010.
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La Porte, Texas · United States
