Clayton co IAGenWeb

Farmersburg Five — They Did a Library Job
By John Reynolds

When you live in a big city and there’s plenty of property around on which you can levy and collect taxes, having some of these public improvements — such as a public library — isn’t too much of a trick. But getting a library started and seeing that the doors are kept open in some of the smaller cities and towns — well, that’s a different story. There’s never enough money for the capital investment; there’s never enough money, really, to buy the books you want or pay the librarian anything like that the job is worth. The work of such a project usually falls to a relatively few who have foresight to get the project under way in the first place and who have the qualities of leadership to recruit the help necessary to carry it on.

A case at point — and similar stories could be told about many Iowa communities — is the Farmersburg library, at the little city of the same name, up in Clayton county. There the townspeople and their rural neighbors can thank five women who once were the ony active members for the “Thursday Study Club” for getting something done about a public library. No, they didn’t start the library in the sense of getting the first books for it. But, you might say, they made it “public” — they fixed it so people could find the books and read them.

The history of the Thursday Study club goes back to 1921. It was federated in 1923 and today it has 18 members. But back in 1943 there were just five actives — the five in the picture: Mrs. Roy Reardon, who then was president of the group, Mrs. Leigh Mathews, Mrs. Carroll Oelke, Miss Violetta Gossman and Mrs. Herbert C. Thoresen.

The town was contributing about $30 a year in those days for the purchase of books and the Thursday Study club was interested in what the money was spent for. But the five members were also interested in the fact that the library’s supply of books was not very accessible. There wasn’t a library building in the town. The five-member club didn’t have any money to build or buy. Seemed as though nobody else had any money either. With the determined nature that sometimes is characteristic of women, the five club members decided there wasn’t much point in buying books if they weren’t accessible to the would-be reading public after they had been bought. They wanted a library building!

So they began shopping, as women will—shopping for a building into which they could place their library books—a building close in to the business section—and one that they could afford to pay for. One small building was available. Owner George Radloff said that he’d take $300 for the property which had been a feed store at one time, an ice cream parlor at another. The women suggested they could pay only a part down. Owner Radloff agreed to take a partial payment and to permit them to pay off the debt as they could. That down payment amounted to just $72—all the money the club could scrape together.

That was in 1943 and the library moved in. They recruited simple furnishings. The club members painted, scrubbed and otherwise cleaned the premises, installed the books and began operations.

Today the little library has more than 1,200 volumes on its shelves, serves far more than the 296 residents for which Farmersburg can account. But a lot work has gone into that achievement, a lot of benefits staged by the growing Thursday Study club to pay off the debt on the building, continue the upkeep of the structure and pay many of its bills. The club served the dinner for a Farmersburg Band day celebration. They had carnivals and benefit card parties—all for the cause of the public library. A gift of $25 from the school was the only outright contribution club members can think of during their years of financial battles to keep their heads and that of the library about the dollars-and-cents waterline.

Now although the library is still a club project, it has a quasi-official standing in the community. The town council appoints a library board. Five members serve-at-large from the community, two from the club membership.

Currently serving on the library board are the Rev. R. Steege, Jimmy Probert and Mrs. Floyd Mosher; from the club, Mrs. Jimmy Mathews and Mrs. Walter Blazek. Board members serve for two, four and six-year terms. The club, down through the years, has provided money for redecorating inside, for installing wiring, for fuel, light bills, and for the salary of the librarian.
Mrs. Howard Muller, librarian, gets just $1 a month for her once-weekly services.

When Mrs. Thoresen — then chairman of the book committee of the Thursday Study club — suggested buying a library building everybody thought it was a very extravagant idea. Nobody had the faintest idea where they were going to get the $300. But they decided to give it a whirl and — like most women with determination — once they got the project spinning it rolled along quite well.

Cedar Rapids Gazette, November, 8, 1949