Historical Marker · No. 817
Site of First County Free Library Branch in California
Elk Grove, Sacramento County · California
Erected by The State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Elk Grove Parlor No. 41, N.S.G.W. and Liberty Parlor No. 213, N.D.G.W., September 9, 1967
A high school principal started it. Harriet Eddy ran Elk Grove Union High School, and in 1908 she got the town the first county free library branch in California, which meant a farming community could draw on a county collection instead of whatever it could afford to buy for itself. The idea spread from here across the state and then a good deal further. The bronze gives her a single line and calls her Miss Harriet G. Eddy.
What the plaque says
Site of the First County Free Library Branch in California In 1908 Elk Grove acquired, through the efforts of Miss Harriet G. Eddy, then principal of Elk Grove Union High School, the first county free library branch in California. Subsequently California's county free library branch system has become one of the most outstanding in America. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 817 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Elk Grove Parlor No. 41, N.S.G.W. and Liberty Parlor No. 213, N.D.G.W., September 9, 1967
Where it stands
38.40909, -121.36147 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Sacramento — 14 miThe Gold Rush river port that became the state capital, and jacked itself ten feet into the air to stop drowning.
More markers nearby
- Grave of Elitha Cumi Donner Wilder — 1.3 mi
- Murphy's Ranch — 2.5 mi
- Grave of Alexander Hamilton Willard — 5.6 mi
- Site of Grist Mill Built by Jared Dixon Sheldon — 11 mi