[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 18, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E62]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORT BRAGG LIBRARY

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                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 18, 2011

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the 
first hundred years or continuous service by the Fort Bragg Library on 
the Mendocino Coast in Northern California. From its beginning on 
January 18, 1911, Fort Bragg's beloved library has persevered through 
funding cuts, political ballot measures and an arson fire. It has 
flourished due to the ongoing support of the Mendocino Coast community.
  Located in picturesque Fort Bragg, California, a former mill town 
that was incorporated in 1889, the library was opened with collections 
from the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Union Lumber 
Company library. When the Union Lumber Company offered to donate 
property, plans were drawn and the library was built on Main Street and 
opened in January 1913. By 1924 the average monthly attendance had 
grown from 311 to 2,053. In the library's first decades, activities 
including new books received, hours of operation and programs available 
were regularly reported in the weekly newspaper.
  In 1966, the Fort Bragg Library joined the two-year-old county 
library system. The City of Fort Bragg owned the building but the 
library was run by the county. The Mendocino Coast Genealogical Society 
rented space in the mezzanine. The biggest booster came when community 
members created the Friends of the Library in 1974 with the intent of 
upgrading the facility.
  Tragedy struck on September 20, 1987, when the library was destroyed 
by fire seven minutes after another historic structure on Main Street, 
the Piedmont Hotel, was set ablaze. The Friends of the Fort Bragg 
Library and the community immediately came together to restore the 
library.
  In their search for an existing building the purchase of a former 
mortuary was proposed using fire insurance money. The county, city and 
Friends of the Library partnered to buy and remodel the building. The 
library reopened on May 25, 1989, stocked with thousands of books 
donated by book dealers, libraries and individuals.
  In 1996, the Fort Bragg Library was the first branch in Mendocino 
County to open Internet access. Over the years the Friends of the 
Library had wisely invested and wanted to modernize the library for the 
new millennium. They contributed $470,000 to the library's remodel 
which was completed with a celebration on July 3, 2007. Use of the new 
and improved Fort Bragg Library soared and became equal to and 
sometimes exceeded the operations of the County's main library at the 
county seat in Ukiah.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, for its hundred years (and counting) 
historic and civic importance and invaluable service to the community 
it is appropriate that we honor the Fort Bragg Library.

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