Edited and expanded upon by Ashley Samber Lynch
In January of 1924 twelve women of the Methodist church met and organized the Yuma Women’s Club. The purpose of this group was to establish a public library.
The Library collection was housed in closed cases at the town hall and began with just 40 books. This collection soon grew to 1200 and on January 31, 1925 the library was opened to the public. Mrs. Dorr Rising was the first librarian. The library was open four hours per week. In 1926 the first library board was founded with Mrs. Webb Martin as chairman.
As reported in the January 23, 1930, edition of the Yuma Pioneer, “The Woman’s Club library committee reported the result of its activity in appearing before the city council . The council responded favorably to its petition and voted to build a library in Yuma.”
In 1930 blueprints for a library facility were submitted by the American Library Association upon request by the town council. A total of $6,000 was allocated for construction. The library building was built at 217 S. Ash Street and is still standing, now a residential property.
In 1949 a mill levy of ½% was assessed for the Library. A portion of the money generated from this tax was used to catalog the collection under the leadership of Dorothy Chilcoat Lash. By 1951 the Library housed 8,800 books.
In 1956 a new planning group, known as the Library Council, was established. A member of each service organization was invited to supply a delegate to the monthly meetings. At this time the library was open to the public five afternoons per week and two hours each Saturday evening. As the library collection grew it became necessary to build a larger facility.
On May 12, 1966, the construction of a new library facility began. 114 W. 3rd Avenue was the location of the new library location. The cost was $50,540. That facility has approximately 3,200 square feet of floor space and was centrally located in downtown Yuma.
In March of 2009 the library moved from its previous location to a newly remodeled facility in the City of Yuma Municipal Building. This current facility was the original hospital building and is now the Northeastern Junior College Yuma Campus located at 910 S. Main Street. This move doubled the square footage available for use providing Yuma Public Library 6,500 square feet of floor space including reading rooms, an archive room and a wonderful brightly decorated children’s area.
Currently, the library employs two full-time employees and one part time. Hours of operation include weekdays from 9 in the morning to 6 in the evening and Saturdays from 9 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon.
Yuma Public Library’s Advisory Board and staff invite the public to a mix and mingle reception on Friday, January 31, 2025. The 100th anniversary celebration will include entertainment, light snacks, and reminiscing from 2 to 6 p.m.