Brief History of Cook Memorial Public Library District

A Brief History of Cook Memorial Public Library

An interactive web exhibit illustrating the library's history from 1894 - 2009 is also available.

Local library service began in 1909 when the Alpha Club (now the Libertyville Woman’s Club) began a subscription library in Decker and Bond, a Libertyville drugstore. The small collection soon outgrew the few shelves in the drugstore and found a new home in the Libertyville village hall in 1914. The Ansel B. Cook home and property was left to the village for library and park purposes in 1921 and opened to the public under the name of Cook Memorial Library in November of that year.

The Libertyville Township Library Board was organized in 1924 to operate Cook Memorial Library, and library service continued to be offered to the community from the Cook home building. As the library’s collection expanded to meet the demands of the growing community, the Children’s Department was moved offsite and the collection became more fragmented.

In 1967, the library joined the North Suburban Library System, thus offering its patrons expanded services. In 1968 a new brick building was built, bringing the collection back together in one facility. The township library board was dissolved in 1973 with the formation of the Cook Memorial Public Library District. Shortly thereafter, parts of northern Vernon Township were annexed into the library district. In 1974 an automated circulation system was installed. In 1984 the basement was expanded by 5000 square feet, increasing the size of the library to 33,000 square feet. The expanded basement housed the children’s department, office space and a public meeting room. Public internet stations were installed in 1995.

Adequate space continued to be an issue as the district provided library service to an ever expanding population. By 1996 the library district’s population was over 47,000 and its annual circulation was over one million items. Three unsuccessful referendums left the southern part of the library district woefully underserved. In 2002 the library district, serving a population of over 58,000, entered into an agreement with the village of Vernon Hills to rent space in the basement of their village hall on Evergreen Drive in Vernon Hills. The Evergreen Interim Library, 2800 square feet, opened on January 13, 2003.

In 2008 plans were drawn up for a 10,000 square foot addition to the Cook Park site and a 20,000 square foot building to be constructed on Aspen Drive in Vernon Hills.

The Cook Memorial Public Library District includes Libertyville, Vernon Hills, Indian Creek, Mettawa, Green Oaks and parts of Mundelein.

Library Directors

Verna E. Jarrett June 1921 – December 1922

Blanche A. Mitchell January 1923 – October 1951

Catherine Littler 1951 – March 1966

William Sannwald 1966 – 1968

Frederick Byergo September 1968 – April 2007

Dan Armstrong April 2007 – present