Corsicana Public Library

Corsicana's librarians stayed. The city's library history lists Mattie Houston as director from 1908 to 1945, nearly four decades, followed by Kate Holman until 1957 and Mary Gobell until 1973. Pat Spiller held the job from 1994 to 2008. In between, interim directors covered gaps in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The plaque says Houston served as head librarian from 1908 until the 1940s, and the city's list fixes the end of her service at 1945, the year Holman took over the position.

What the plaque says

Corsicana Public Library The women's clubs of Corsicana were instrumental in opening the city's first public library in 1901 at W. 6th and Main St. The city created a library board in 1904 and secured a construction grant from the Carnegie Corporation the following year. In 1906 the Carnegie Library opened at W. Collin and N. 12th St. The building included a large auditorium which held numerous community gatherings. Mrs. Mattie Houston served as head librarian from 1908 until the 1940s. A new library was completed in 1967 to house a collection that had grown to over 40,000 volumes.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Petroleum Industry Park — 0.3 mi
  The pipes and drilling tower mark where a city water well struck oil on June 9, 1894, the start of the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities.
• Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery — 20 mi
  The Freestone County grave of the Texas blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson, who recorded for Paramount in Chicago from 1926 and died there in December 1929.
• Ellis County Courthouse — 30 mi
  J. Riely Gordon's courthouse of 1897 in Pecos red sandstone and pink granite, with twenty-one carved stone faces and two cornerstones left by a quarrel over its building.

More markers nearby

• Samuel Wistar Johnson, M. D. — steps away
• Corsicana City Jail of 1908 — steps away
• Corsicana — steps away
• The First National Bank of Corsicana — steps away