Then And Now: The Gulfport Public Library

Before the Gulfport Public Library was created in 1935, local resident of, Julia Luckey, recognized the need for one. In a small room that hid behind the drugstore located at 29^th Avenue South and Beach Boulevard, Luckey created a little library. She achieved this goal by donating books from her own collection and by soliciting money from friends that were interested in the project. Tragically her house was burned in a fire and Luckey moved away.

In May of 1935 the Gulfport Library came into existence. With the ambition of a group of ladies, one being the Mayor’s wife, a project of the library began to emerge in January of 1935. 

In January of 1935 the Mayor of Gulfport, Mayor Potter, wrote a second letter to the prior Mayor, Mayor Weld in regards to an old beat down real-estate office that Weld’s owned. According to Lynne Brown’s, Gulfport A Definitive History, the letter read as follows,

       I am writing this time to ask that you let the Gulfport Library Association use the building temporarily as a library. We have plans for a permanent library but while we are organizing it, we need a place to leave donations and get it started. This is a very needed venture here and I hope you will not object to our using it. We will give you possession whenever you want it. As our plans need an immediate reply, will you wire us collect so that we can clean up and repair the place at once?

The Gulfport Library Association was not an elected group of individuals, but simply citizens of the city who wanted to work together towards a dream.

Weld reciprocated with an agreement to the letter, and the Gulfport Library Association began their work on establishing a library for community. After many fundraisers and copious donations from ‘Gulfportians’ The Gulfport Library opened on May 15, 1935.  The appointed librarian was Margaret Clees, and 1500 books were shelved and cataloged in the one-room office building.

The city's population stood at 1,000 people, and out of the 1,000, 300 of them took out library cards. By October the library had nearly 2,500 books, but more reference books were needed. Lynne Brown states in her book, Gulfport A Definitive History, in November this referendum appeared on a ballot: Shall the town accept the library to be supported and maintained by tax levy? The response was overwhelmingly positive, 224 for and 40 against. 

The town was now in charge of the library and an official library board was established. The tiny, yet quaint library rested upon the corner of DeLett and Beach Boulevard for many years to come. PEG'S Cantina and Brew Pub now occupy that space.

1950's

The library continued to grow throughout the years, and by the 1950’s more room was needed. Gulfport’s citizens and government came together to raise the $3,000 needed to add on an additional wing to the library. Many dinners, dances, tea parties and card parties were held as ways to earn the money. Gulfport succeeded in earning the money and an additional wing was added on February 10, 1956. 

A man by the name of Walter Fuller owned the land where the current library sits, and he deeded the land to the city of Gulfport for the purpose of a modern building. The city approved a budget of $135,000 for a new library to built there.

1970

Ground was broken January 2, 1970, and the building was completed in 1976-dedicated to Marie Bryan in recognition of her faithfulness to her dream.

The current library is located at, 5501 28th Avenue South, Gulfport, Fl 33707 and has been there since 1976. 

1994

Around 1994 renovations took place and the library doubled in size. 

“One of the best renovations the library undertook was the adding of the meeting room,” Carol Parker, the Acting Library Administrator stated.

The meeting room is a private room located in the library that is used for many of the library programs that take place throughout the year.

Today 

Not much more than ten or so years ago every job done in the library was accomplished by hand. Remember card catalogs? That is how I remember finding books as a child. Now everything is done through computers. 

“The biggest change I have seen the library go through was when it became computerized!  It wasn’t too long ago when we used to stamp the cards,” Kay Boatwright who has been with the library for 29 years explained.

“Each person was administered a paper library card with their name and an ID number on it, and that is how we used to keep track of the books each person took out, now everything is electronic,” Parker said.

The library is always open to the public, and is a comfortable spot to relax in. It has a variety of books to select from, computers with internet, and it is air conditioned for those who need to cool down from the hot and humid weather here in Florida. The best aspect about the library is that it is FREE. The economy may be in a slump and that can affect the employees of the library, but it doesn’t affect people who use it. 

“We had two more Reference Librarians that retired, but because of budgetary problems they were never replaced, so we are always very short-staffed,” Reference Librarian Alex Hooks explained.

The people of Gulfport have always played beneficial roles in the bringing up and keeping of the library, and they seem to continue to do so. 

The Circle of Friends, formally known as Friends of the Gulfport Library, is a group of citizens that work together to help raise money for the library and make it a better place.  The Friends of the Gulfport Library group faded away for about a decade, but recently re-emerged this year, and are now known as the Circle of Friends. Their first project was a book sale that took place in April, and raised $2,400 for the library! 

“One of the goals we have been discussing is to develop a special collections section of the library, which will include a variety of different books revolving around cultures.” Lynne Brown said.

The library has continued to expand throughout the years as the population of Gulfport continues to grow. Throughout the history of the library, the people of Gulfport played the main role of its existence by their donations and their persistence. Outlining the entrance to the current library are numerous bricks that have people’s names engraved upon them, those name are for every person who donated $100 to the library. 

“We want to know what the people of Gulfport would like us to do in the future, their opinion is what matters.” Parker emphasized. 

The Gulfport Library was built by the community and has been embraced by the community for nearly 80 years. 

“The library is the heart of Gulfport!” Lynne Brown said.

Historical information obtained from Our Story of Gulfport, (1985) by the Gulfport Historical Society and A Definitive History (2004) by Lynne Brown.