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Perry Hall Library
History of the Perry Hall Library
In July, 1951 the Kingsville Homemakers Club
started a community library, open six hours a week, to serve the Kingsville-Perry Hall area.
By 1952 this library had 157 readers who had borrowed 4,000 books.
In September, 1952 the Baltimore County Public
Library’s first bookmobile started service in the northern part of the county
providing service to the area and the community library was closed in April, 1953.
In March, 1962 the Northeastern Library
Association was formed by a group of citizens from the Kingsville-Perry Hall-White
Marsh-Loreley-Bradshaw-Fork area who felt that the population now justified a branch
library.
In November, 1962, through the combined efforts
of the Board of Library Trustees and the Northeastern Library Association, funds were made
available by the County Executive and the County Council, in the 1963 budget, to lease a
building, to purchase furniture and equipment, to provide staff salaries and to purchase
an adequate book stock and other materials for a branch library in the Perry Hall area.
Source: Welcome
to Your New Perry Hall Branch - - Baltimore County Public Library Flyer 1963
"After strong lobbying by groups like Perry
Hall Improvement Association, county officials approved a lease for the library in March
of 1963. (William) Schaefer demolished the Halbert House, which had deteriorated since its
days as a Germantown hotel, and completed the library that summer. The brick, two-story
building seemed large enough for the growing community.
Opening ceremonies were held on
September 8, 1963, drawing crowds of civic leaders, families and elected
officials. Prominent guests included United States Representative Clarence Long and
Baltimore County Executive Spiro Agnew."
Source: Crossroads. The History of Perry Hall, Maryland.
Page 126, David Marks, Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore, Maryland. 1999 and
reprinted 2000.
The groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, March 22,
2008, heralded the start of construction on a new single level, ADA-accessible
"green" library at 9685 Honeygo Boulevard..
Source: Baltimore County Public
Library's Branching Out March 2008
The former Perry Hall Library at 9440 Belair Road
closed on January 31, 2009. From February 10 to March 6, 2009, customers
were able to return items and pick up reserved items at the new library's
drive-up window. On Monday, March 9, 2009, the doors of a new,
much larger 25,000-square-foot Perry Hall Library opened for full service at
9685 Honeygo Boulevard. Baltimore County Public Library's first "green"
library is more than twice the size of the 10,000-square-foot building it
replaced. New features of the single level, ADA-accessible library include
Baltimore County Public Library's first drive-up window, an adult reading
room, two group study rooms, a special area for teens and a greatly enlarged
children's area and meeting room. Costs include $5.5 million for design and
construction, $923,000 for furniture, fixtures and equipment, and $1.2
million for new items in the collection. The official grand opening and
ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on Monday, March 23, 2009, including
elected officials Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith, Councilman Vincent
Gardina and State Senator Katherine Klausmeier, as well as civic leaders and
families.
Source: Baltimore County Public Library News
Release March 6, 2009
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Baltimore County Public Library, Towson Maryland USA
Last Revised:
30 April 2009
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