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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


Original Boulevard Park Library

(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