Our History
1920’s |
Various volunteer organizations maintained a small Library collection for the people of Baxter County. |
1930’s |
The 20th Century Club established a volunteer-run Library in the Baxter County Courthouse. |
1940’s |
The local Business and Professional Women’s Club (BPW Club) managed the volunteer-run Library, which eventually moved from the courthouse to Mountain Home City Hall. |
1952 |
The BPW Club backed a successful campaign in which Baxter County voters approved a one-mill tax to support a county Library. |
1953 |
The Baxter County Library officially opened in July 1953. |
1964 |
The Library moved to a new, 3,166 square-foot building on Seventh Street. The building was constructed on government-donated land and financed with a federal grant and matching funds. |
1969 |
A 1,000 square-foot addition was completed with the help from donations and another federal grant. |
1983 |
A 4,800 square-foot addition was completed thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Friends of the Baxter County Library, established three years earlier with a mission to supplement Library resources. |
1993 |
A 3,024 square-foot expansion of the Library was completed, financed by private donations and a federal grant. |
1996 |
A fundraising campaign to “computerize the library” was initiated, and in 1998 Baxter County joined the Information Age with the addition of four public access computers and an integrated library software system. |
2005 |
Realizing that if the library were to continue to grow, additional funds were always going to be needed, a small group established the Baxter County Library Foundation, a 501-C3 nonprofit whose mission is to support the Library. The Foundation began working through a deliberate planning process for a new Library building. |
2008 |
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation awarded a grant of $9.8 million to build, furnish and equipment a 35,500 square-foot Library. Construction began in March 2009 on a two-story building atop Library Hill in Mountain Home |
2010 |
The Donald W. Reynolds Library serving Baxter County opened in September 2010. |
2015 |
Studio 300 Maker Space opened, offering a variety of tools and workshops for crafting and DIY projects. |
2020 |
Celebrated 10 years in the Donald W. Reynolds Library building |