History of Bucyrus Public Library

The first library in the city of Bucyrus was built in 1896 where the Bucyrus Public Library is today. The original library was built with money raised by the Memorial Library Association, a group of 15 women dedicated to establishing a library in memory of those lost in the Civil War. The first library was very small consisting of two rooms the size of pantries. In October 1899, due to the costs involved in maintenance for the library, the trustees made an appeal to Andrew Carnegie. A check for $500 was received to purchase used books.

By 1905, the library had grown to include over 3,700 books and had a circulation in excess of 13,500. A group of Bucyrus citizens decided to petition Mr. Carnegie for money, and were successful. A Carnegie grant of $15,000 was given to the city with provisions that the city provide a site and 10% of the grant annually for library maintenance.

Mr. King of Galion, whose low bid made it possible for the second floor to be built, built the current library. The doors formally opened on June 5, 1906, with an open house. The building was described as “one of beauty in architecture and is conveniently arranged for the purpose for which it was constructed.”

The librarian for the Bucyrus Public Library at this time was Ms. Augusta McCracken. She had also been the librarian for the old Memorial Library. Her assistant was Vera Price. Ms. McCracken was librarian until 1914. During her tenure the library was made the sole beneficiary of the will of Nellie R. Harris in 1909. Ms. Harris established a trust fund of $26,000 for the library as a memorial to her father for the purchase of books. In 1914, when Ms. McCracken retired, the library had over 6,000 volumes, 40 periodicals, and a circulation in excess of 17,000.

In 1914, Ms. Price succeeded Ms. McCracken and is credited with having started a reading area for children. Clara Angell succeeded her in 1916. Ms. Grace Fuller succeeded Ms. Angell in 1917.

Ms. Grace Fuller remained the Head Librarian of the Bucyrus Public Library until January 1952. Under her direction the collection grew to 30,000 and children’s and extension services increased.

In 1988 the library was expanded to 14,800 square feet with a large addition to the back of the original building. The architects, Burris, Lockwood and Tangleman, matched the outside brick of the building so well that it is hard to discern where the original building and the addition meet.

In May 1989, the Timken Foundation awarded the Bucyrus Public Library a grant of $200,000 to automate its circulation system, cataloging system, and public access catalog. The grant was also used to convert the records of four area high schools into machine-readable form in order to automate their public access catalogs and create an online union database. This project was completed in April 1991 when the Bucyrus Public Library, and the four high school libraries, Bucyrus High School, Colonel Crawford High School, Wynford High School, and Buckeye Central High School, went online, creating the Bucyrus Library Consortium.

The library was again expanded with the addition dedicated on March 15, 2009.

In May 2019, Bucyrus Public Library joined the Consortium of Ohio Libraries.

The following served as Library Director after Ms. Grace Fuller: Julia Havron, Ruth Kerr, Wilma Rittenour, Sue Stuckman, Marilyn Roe, Dr. Jeffrey Herold, James Wilkins, Matthew Ross, and Brenda Crider. The current Director is Ms. Stephanie Buchanan.