The Rock Island Public Library opened In November of 1872, and Monday morning library staff and city officials unveiled a monument on the site, downtown.
Earlier that year, the Illinois legislature passed the Local Library Act, allowing local governments to levy a tax to support free, public libraries.
Library director Angela Campbell says it opened in rented rooms, with books donated by the Young Men's Literary Association. 30 years later (1903) the current downtown library opened about four blocks away.
"Our tagline is "Begin Here" because a lot times people don't know where to start with anything, and it really could be anything. We've had people ask how to I find an apartment, how do I get a job, just basic things that sometimes others may take for granted that we can help with."
Since then the library opened the Southwest Branch in 1974, and added on to the main library in 1986. A new branch, within the new Rock Island YMCA, formerly the Tri-City Jewish Center, will open soon.
An 1,800 pound rock now marks the site of the first library, at the corner of 2nd Avenue and 17th Street.
