Bay City Library

Bay City's library began with bridge players. Women who met weekly lent a few books twice a week from a cubbyhole in an insurance office in 1912, among them Mesdames J. M. Corbett, B. L. Livengood and E. J. Kilbride and Miss Florence Bouldin. Mayor John Sutherland tried for a Carnegie grant, but the town was too small to qualify. The association paid its way with dances, raffles, hamburger sales and a benefit show, and its charter was filed on August 18, 1915. One account puts the first building's cost at $938.35.

What the plaque says

Bay City Library Organized in 1912, the Bay City Public Library was first housed in the J. P. Keller Insurance Company office. The non-profit Bay City Library Association, also formed in 1912, spearheaded community fund raising efforts to operate the library. Land was purchased in 1913, and a library building was completed in 1914. The first librarian was Miss Josephine McCullough. A new library building was constructed in 1958, and a friends of the library organization was formed in 1977. The Bay City library became part of the Texas state library system in 1987. (1989)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Levi Jordan Plantation State Historic Site — 19 mi
  A sugar and cotton plantation on the San Bernard River whose enslaved builders and their descendants left one of the best-preserved African American archeological sites in Texas.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 23 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• First Presbyterian Church of Bay City — steps away
• Bay City Methodist Church — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Bay City — steps away
• Matagorda, C.S.A. — steps away