Boulevard Park Library

Library History

A Look Back at the Boulevard Park Library

In 1927 a group of women residing in the Boulevard Park area banded themselves together with a great desire to improve their own standards and to be a service to the community. Little did the members of that first meeting realize that their efforts were to eventually lead to the final development of a very beautiful King County Library building, and service rendered by King County.
History of the Boulevard Park Library
by Lura M. Colburn

(photo of the original library building) Caption: The first public library in 
Boulevard Park, King County, Washington

By 1937, the Womens Progress Club of McKinley Hill had changed their name to The Wednesday Study Club and passed a motion to sponsor a library. With $4.85 in the treasury, the members embarked on a search for property. On November 3, the Club contracted for the construction of a 12 x 18 library to be built at the cost of $351.93. One week later the new library was open! Community members donated their labor to build bookshelves and furnish a building at the corner of south 120th and Des Moines Way South. The Club purchased 568 books from KCLS at a nominal price.

In December of 1943, Boulevard Park became the first library to join the King County Library System. In the early 1950s, community fund-raising efforts resulted in a larger building near the same location; in the 1960s, when community needs outgrew this facility, the Club now known as The Boulevard Park Library Guild was instrumental in finding a larger lot and planning our current 6,536 square foot library, completed in 1971.

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Last Updated: June 13, 2007