The next stop on my #AuthenticArkansas adventure was the Conway County Library in Morrilton earlier this month. I’ve been to and through Morrilton quite a few times in the last few years; one of my most favorite antique stores is right in downtown. Little did I know that such an amazing Arkansas treasure sits just a block away.
The library is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. It was officially opened in October 1916 after its founders, the Pathfinder Club, received an Andrew Carnegie Foundation grant to build a free public library. Currently the Conway County Library is one of two libraries that were awarded a grant to be operating from the original building. How amazing is that? More info about the history of the library can be found here.
The gorgeous building sits on a well maintained corner. The architecture is stately and look at those windows!
Although the library is now digitized and available online, the beautiful old card catalog is still on display.
Directly across from these (awesome) arched windows sit two comfy chairs. Can you imagine settling in on a cool fall day and falling asleep, errrr, reading the day away?
I was happy to spend some time in this little gem of a library and if I lived in Morrilton it would definitely one of my favorite places to be.
Read more about the Conway County Library here.
This is where I got my first library card, where I checked out Judy Blume books that probably would have shocked my mother, and where (once) mom and I parked because there were only parallel spaces at my pediatrician’s office a few blocks away.
I didn’t know you were from around that area, Stephanie. What a lovely setting for growing up reading.