History of Jordaan Memorial Library, Larned Library's homepage
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| Larned's first public library was a reading room in the basement of a clothing store. The date was 1879. In 1915 a fine new brick building, constructed with funds left to the city by Dr. and Mrs. J.M. Cummins, housed the first real library. Cummins Memorial Library opened on January 1, 1915 and the collection was housed in that building until November of 1972. Pawnee County voted to join in the support of the library in 1930. Planning for a new and larger building began in 1969, with actual construction starting in early 1973. From November of 1972 until November of 1973, the library operated in the basement of a store building three blocks from the building site. The name was changed to Jordaan Memorial Library to recognize the bequest of fifty-five percent of the building's cost by the Jordaan Endowment Foundation. The present library is one level, covers eleven thousand four hundred square feet, has easy access and an openness of design that makes it both easily used and attractive. The large special collection of Kansas materials is housed in a separate reading room. The genealogy collection, as well as newspaper microfilm and two microfIlm readers, are also kept in this area. The library has pleasant reading areas, listening tapes for children, phonograph records and art prints for checking, a growing collection of large print books and books on cassette for adults. A large meeting room serves for story hours, films, art exhibits and community meetings. |
1987 picture of Jordaan Memorial Library, Larned 
2006 picture of Jordaan Memorial Library, Larned |