Basehor Community Library

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Basehor Community Library

Basehor Community Library serves the town of Basehor, Kansas. The library is a place that brings knowledge to its community. It brings people together to learn new things through different classes and events.

Reuben Library

Reuben Basehor, the co-founder of the town of Basehor, built the Reuben Library. He wanted to share his books with the town. It was an all cement building because of the fires that were happening all over town at the time.

History

January 1982 Basehor-Linwood Community Education Council was created. One of its major long-term goals was the creation of a library in Basehor. The Linwood librarian, Juanita Sheets, was the Community Education Advisor as well as a board member for the Northeast Kansas Library System (NEKLS). In ‘84 Sheets informed the Council of the possible availability of a matching grant from the NEKLS for rural communities with no existing libraries. Karen (Kon) Martin was asked by Karlene Theno, President of Community Education, to start a steering committee to look into the possibility of building a library in Basehor. The steering committees first goal was to ascertain whether the community of 3,000 wanted/support a library. A larger committee formed in 1984 to conduct a door to door survey in the summer of ‘84, which netted overwhelming support for the library. A formal request for the matching grant was sent to the NEKLS. The community would have to match the 9,000$ grant in books, donated hours, money, and space for the library. In late 1984 a campaign to meet the needs of the grant was underway. Support came from all over the community. Thousands of books were donated by community members, generous money donations were made by individuals and businesses, temporary space was granted by the City Council in their new City Building, assistance came from surrounding school districts in bookshelves and books, hundreds and hundreds of hours were donated by students and adults alike helping to get the donated books ready for the library. Librarians from Basehor and Linwood community schools gave assistance in how to set up a library and get it going. In December of 1984 the grant was approved. In January of 1985, Lela and Bob Wiley were approached about renting out their warehouse, which had been a grocery store for years, that was in a central part of town. Mr. Wiley offered to make the warehouse habitable for a library, donating a great deal of money and time for the renovation. In April 1985 the Library Committee canvassed the community for support and signatures for taxes to support the library for the future. The tax was supported enthusiastically by the community. Carla Swope became the Library Director in April of 1985, first as a volunteer position and later a paid position, becoming the libraries first paid employee. The library had a very successful reading program and had a preschool reading time. Since the library was young and without a lot of resources they joined The Interlibrary Loan System of NEKLS, allowing library patrons to check out many books from different libraries for free. In 1987 the library got its second paid employee, Donna Boarwright, again a longtime volunteer. A seven-member board of director oversees the library operations. In 1987 a Friends of the Library Committee was formed to assist the library. They give many programs for children throughout the library as well as given countless hours in volunteer service.

March 2, 1985 the Basehor Community Library opened its doors.

2006 groundbreaking for the new library. The new library opened in 2008 and is still open to the public today. It serves the Basehor area and is apart of the Nexpress library book sharing system.

Library Information

1400 158th St. Basehor, KS 66007

(913)-724-2828

Refrences

Basehor Library Archives

Basehor Community Library facebook page

KORNEGAY, BETH, and Times. “Old Basehor Library Moved to City Park.” The Leavenworth Times, The Leavenworth Times - Leavenworth, KS, 21 June 2016, www.leavenworthtimes.com/news/20160621/old-basehor-library-moved-to-city-park.

Kornegay, Beth, and Times. “Reading Program Offered at Basehor Library.” The Leavenworth Times, The Leavenworth Times - Leavenworth, KS, 30 May 2017, www.leavenworthtimes.com/news/20170530/reading-program-offered-at-basehor-library.

KORNEGAY, BETH, and Times. "Basehor Community Library." The Leavenworth Times, The Leavenworth Times - Leavenworth, KS, http://www.basehorinfo.com/places/basehor_community_library/

KORNEGAY, BETH, and Times. "Basehor Library hosts annual poetry contest." The Leavenworth Times, The Leavenworth Times - Leavenworth, KS, https://www.leavenworthtimes.com/article/20160401/NEWS/160409980

KORNEGAY, BETH, and Times. "Students solve clues escape from the library room." The Leavenworth Times, The Leavenworth Times - Leavenworth, KS, 9 December 2016, https://www.leavenworthtimes.com/news/20161209/students-solve-clues-escape-from-library-room

http://www.basehorinfo.com/places/basehor_community_library/

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