Our History

The Stephenville Public Library was initiated by a local women's club, the Twentieth Century Club, in 1903. Club volunteers ran the library from various locations in the city.

Eventually, in 1919, the Twentieth Century Club raised enough money to buy a lot and in 1924 they built a library at the corner of Green Street and Erath Street.

This was the site where Major Erath lived in a log cabin while he planned the city of Stephenville.

In 1968 the United States Government offered the old Post Office building at 174 Columbia Street to the city of Stephenville for $1, if the city would use it for educational purposes for thirty years.

The city bought the building, built in 1935, and remodeled it in library fashion. The city, in agreement with the Twentieth Century Club, took over the library books and other items.

In 1969, the Twentieth Century Club and volunteers moved the books from Green Street to the new library.

On September 1, 1998, the United States Government presented the deed to the building to the city and the library.