The library turns 100 years old in 2008. To help celebrate this, many activities are planned, including booths, parades, guest speakers, open houses, new book bags, and book signings. To begin the celebrations, Dick Graves wrote the following piece on the history of the library. In the beginning of our library’s history was a collection of donated books from local readers. This collection appears to have begun in 1874 when a group of interested locals gathered and organized what they called the Presque Isle Library Association. We know this because the people involved kept the minutes of the meetings. The first meeting described their objectives — social exchanges, mutual improvements and to raise money for a public library. This collection of books had no permanent home, if you will, but was rotated in various businesses around town. Each business owner then became the official unofficial librarian. The book collection was first placed in a George Rowell’s drugstore (location unknown, but likely to have been on the west side of Main St. near the site of F.P. Stevens across from the Hotel). Rowell was arguably Presque Isle’s first librarian. The collection was then moved to the business, which received (by rider on horseback) and sorted the mail for pickup, called the post office. Designated post offices also rotated among various places, so the exact location of this one is also unknown. Sometime after, the book collection found a new home in Laila Smith’s millenary shop (women’s hats) located on the site of the present-day Braden Theatre. In 1905 the books were moved to Holmes Jewelry Store, now a part of Gary’s Furniture and Appliance Center.
But now the townspeople, viewing a growing demand for books and an increasing number of donated books, agitated for a permanent site for the collection. Sometime before 1907, the town applied for a gift/donation from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation which, if accepted, would provide most of the monies required to erect a permanent structure to house library facilities. Carnegie had made 100’s of millions of dollars in the steel industry and vowed to donate most of his accumulated wealth before he died. His favorite project was to donate seed money to towns and cities across the nation to build much-needed libraries. But his donated portion required the town to provide the building site and provide annually 10% of the cost of construction to support its operation. The request was granted but only after the site was provided. It was Thomas Phair (Aroostook’s “Starch King”) who purchased the land from the David Dudley estate for the construction. The lot, on the SE corner of State and Second Sts., stood directly across from where Dudley had built a fine home in 1860. The lot was purchased by Phair for $1,000, then donated to the town for the library. The town had appropriated enough money to support the annual operation. The construction began and several months later the library opened in May of 1908. Miss Lou Marston was designated as the library’s first, official librarian. She served that position until 1932.
As the years passed and Presque Isle’s population multiplied (in part due to the B&A Railroad arriving in 1895), so did the demand for library use increase. In the early 1960s, it was firmly acknowledged that a library expansion was necessary to relieve an overcrowding condition. Funding for this proposed expansion was made available by Title 111 legislation in the mid 1960s. The project was bolstered by a very generous person, Mark Turner, who donated $60,000 in matching funds. The expansion project would incorporate a portion of the original library with the new. That original portion can be viewed in the rear of the library.
In April of 1968 the newly expanded Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library was dedicated. Burt Tompkins, then chairman of the city council, Bill Flora, chairman of the library board and city librarian, Anne Stimpson, assisted Mark Turner in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Later in the afternoon, Gov. Ken Curtis, accompanied by Mrs. Stimpson, toured the new facility.
Present city librarian, Sonja Plummer-Morgan, a native daughter, attended Presque Isle High School from 1983 to 1987. She holds a Bachelor of Library and Informational Science degree from the University of Maine in Augusta. In December of 2007 she received a Master of Library Science.
Mrs. Plummer-Morgan is the eleventh librarian since the institution opened in 1908. In recent years Anne Stimpson held a 26-year term 1955 to her retirement in 1981. Mrs. Stimpson passed away in 1990 at age 80. Marilyn Clark was appointed city librarian in 1981 to replace Anne Stimpson. Mrs. Clark served the city in that capacity for 19 years until her retirement in 2000. Donna Rasche then was appointed to that position until 2003 when Mrs. Plummer-Morgan came on board as librarian.
The Turner Library has grown from 50,000 books in 1985 to 60,000 cataloged. In addition, the facility now has 25 working computers. The future, most likely holds great technological advancements with added electronic resources. An elevator is planned in the short future and possibly a 5,700 square foot addition.
List of Presque Isle librarians from 1908 to present:
1) Lou Marston, 1908-1932
2) Beulah Akeley, 1932-1945
3) Natalie Barker, 1945
4) Bernice Libby, 1945
5) Dorothy Winslow, 1946-1948
6) Beatrice Rakestraw, 1948-1951
7) Dorothy Small, 1951-1955
8) Anne Stimpson, 1955-1981
9) Marilyn Clark, 1981-2000
10) Donna Rasche, 2000-2003
11) Sonja Plummer-Morgan, 2003-present
Sonja Plummer-Morgan is Librarian at Presque Isle’s Turner Memorial Library. She can be reached at 764-2571 or online at sonjaplummer@presqueisle.lib.me.us.