For over twenty
years the Self Culture Club, held ice cream parties, dinners
and plays to raise funds for the library. Subscriptions
were also sold for $1.00 per year. In 1929, the library
was turned over to the municipality. Later the library was
moved into a room in the city hall.
In 1961, with
the approval of the voters in the county the Tulsa City-County
Library system was established. The Broken Arrow Library
then became part of this organization. In late 1963, the
library moved from the city hall into a new building designed
by Bob Hale, at 121 East College. The library remained in
this location until 1985. In that year, the original building
was sold and a larger one opened at 300 West Broadway. This
site happened to be the former homestead of one of the original
members of the Self Culture Club. This building was designed
for a collection of 45,000 and was soon overwhelmed by new
customers. The library was designed by BSW, with Chief Boyd
as project architect.
As part of the
1998 Bond Issue, the building was renovated in 2000, again
with the help of Chief Boyd. Two separate meeting rooms
took the place of one large room with a movable divider.
Bright colored carpeting designed by Chief as well as a
special children’s entrance was added to make the
building brighter.
For
close to a hundred years the public library has played an
important role in the community. As the community has grown
and developed, so has the library.
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