MEMORY FEST: Beaumont Library District Celebrates 100th Birthday

Scores of people turned out Saturday for the Memory Festival to celebrate the Beaumont Library District's 100th anniversary.

Residents of the town voted to create the Beaumont Library District on Aug. 12, 1911, more than a year before the community was incorporated as the city of Beaumont, according to historians.

On Saturday, researcher Bill Bell of the Banning Library District planned to conduct oral history interviews with guests, including Beaumont Mayor Brian De Forge, a city spokesman said. The interviews will be posted later on the Library’s web site: www.bld.lib.ca.us.

De Forge, who grew up in Beaumont, remembers walking to the library as a youngster and spending time surrounded by books.

"It was a place of solace and knowledge," De Forge said. "A place of quiet reflection, where an entire new world was waiting for my mind to explore."

The centennial celebration of the district comes a year before Beaumont celebrates its own 100th birthday. Beaumont incorporated in November 1912.

"Our hometown library has served this community long and faithfully," De Forge said. "With reading, we’re able to enrich our own lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren and create lasting memories."

The current library building, funded by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, opened in 1914, according to the district. It's located at 125 E. 8th St.