Chrisman Public Library was officially started in 1939, with Agnes Hoult as the first Librarian. The library was housed at the now Christian Church. In 1950, the library moved to the Municipal building where it stayed until the late 1960’s when it moved into a building formerly occupied by the Chrisman Nazarene Church. In 1957, the Chrisman Lions Club proposed that there should be a permanent arrangement for paying the current Librarian, Mrs. Agnes Hoult. Allen Overaker, as the lone committee member, took the issue to the Chrisman City Counsil. An ordinance establishing a City Library, with a tax levy was passed. The first Board of Directors was chosen for the Chrisman Public Library and we were “officially” a library! In 2004, the Chrisman Public Library opened in its current location of 108 N Illinois, which was donated to the city by Ben and June Cook.
Past and current Librarian/Directors have been and are: Agnes Hoult, Ivy M. Compton, Goldie Jenness, Charlotte Fleming, Mary Marvin, Mary Elizabeth Galway. Gwen Montgomery, Kristy Colyer, Beth Daily, Cheryl Oates.
1. The building where the library is currently located was built between 1891 and 1894 after a fire destroyed most of the west side of the square.
2. The building where the library is currently located had always been occupied by a drug store until Ben and June Cook donated the building to the city for use as a library. Ben Cook owned and operated Cook Drug Store and June Cook owned and operated The Village, a women’s clothing and accessories store, in the adjacent building.
3. The oak coffee table, located in the sitting area of the current library, was previously the table used for the children’s area. This little table was used for children in both the Municipal Building location and the former Nazarene Church location.
4. Our current location has approximately 2,600 square feet of floor space. Since moving to this building, we have had to add additional shelving more than once. Our patrons are very
generous and have donated boxes and boxes of books. We use what we can on the shelves and sell others in our annual Book Sale.
5. Chrisman Public Library is a part of the Illinois Heartland Library System. If you need a book that we do not have on our shelves, chances are that we can obtain the book from one of the many other libraries in the Illinois Heartland system.
