Though the library had become an important part of the community, it almost failed in 1913, when the Methodist and Presbyterian churches decided to remodel their buildings, tasks that absorbed much of the surplus funds in town. But Association members “girded themselves anew” and managed to raise enough money to keep the library afloat until 1926, when the library merged with the Greene County Public Library. The merger lifted the burden of support, or at least part of it, from the weary shoulders of the Library Association. The Association continued for some time to provide funds for rent, heat, the librarians’ salaries and incidentals. Local groups also continued to support the library: The Shakespeare Club, for instance, donated the books it used at the end of each year, and the Bridge Club donated the money used for light refreshments at their meetings for the purchase of new books. In 1926, that amounted to $12.
Home of the library on Walnut Street from the 30’s to the early 60’s, now office for the School Board
The Little Art building was remodeled
in 1930, and the library moved again, taking up temporary residence
in the home of J. N. Wolford (the red brick house at Short and Walnut
streets).
Long before this move, the Association
had a goal in mind, beyond just paying rent. Its members wanted a
building, a library building. The seed money for their building fund
came in 1908, in the form of a $50 donation from the Young Ladies
Guild of the disbanding Christian Church. By the early ’30s, there
was $1,200 in the building fund, enough to pay the Presbyterian
Church $500 for a piece of property it had for sale directly across
the street from the library’s temporary quarters.
Next came the building. Village Council
issued a bond that netted $3,000 for materials, and federal
government employment relief programs provided $9,000 for labor
costs, making the library the first depression-era project in Greene
County to get funds through the Public Works Administration. Stone
from the Antioch quarry was donated for construction of the new
library. Designed by Max Mercer, the library was dedicated “in a
blaze of glory” on June 27, 1935.
By 1962, it was apparent the library
had once again outgrown its clothes, and the Association began a new
building fund. Nothing much happened, however, until the summer of
1963, when a piece of property at Davis Street and Xenia Avenue came
up for sale. Several phone calls, meetings, and days later, the
decision was made to buy the property and build a new library on it.
Village government purchased the site for
$20,000, and in November of that year,
the Vernay Foundation gave the project a major boost, when it donated
$100,000 for the new library in memory of President John F. Kennedy.
To supplement the Vernay gift, the
Association continued its fundraising efforts. It sponsored a tour of
local homes, an auction of donated “treasures” and, with the help
of the Girl Scouts, the harvest and sale of an apple crop donated by
a local resident. The Jaycees also lent a hand, launching a fund
drive that raised almost $50,000 in two weeks. An ad in the Yellow
Springs News advised potential donors that those who wished to make
larger contributions could elect monthly payments, payable with the
Village utility bill. Donations came from all over town, from loads
of pennies to checks from businesses.
The new library opened on August 30,
1965. Its first eight customers were Leslie Diehl, Carla Cordell,
Susan Hollister, Kevin Jackson, Craig Cordell, Steve Asakawa, Grundy
Vernet and Drew Diehl. Circulation that day totalled 722, breaking
all previous one-day circulation figures.
Original building on site of current library, 415 Xenia Avenue
How many still remember the racks of magazines and comic books that were a part of most grocery and drugstores in even the smaller villages and towns across America?
How many remember the sense of anticipation for the latest issue of a favorite?
The particular location of the Yellow Springs store in this photograph courtesy of Antiochiana was not identified, but there were several possibilities since such a magazine rack was a common feature at one time.
We continue to share highlights from Women of Greene County with a profile of Betty Hairston, who is a model of using her talents to strengthen our community.
Note: Bear in mind that the statistics cited about the Credit Union reflect the orgainzation in 1994.
Betty Garnett Hairston came to Greene County in 1965, early in her marriage. She had been born and grew up in Cincinnati. She and her husband Neil settled in Yellow Springs because his job was nearby.
When their daughter Michelle Ann was a toddler, Hairston was asked to take a part-time job at the local Yellow Springs Community Credit Union. Office work was not new to her. She had worked at Defense Electronic Supply Center, Civil Service, and Wright Patterson Air Force Base for a total of eleven years.
Credit unions are different from banks
in that each member with an account is a share holder. That means
members vote for officials, have input on policy, and receive a
dividend if there is a balance after expenses are paid. Most credit
unions are organized for employees of a company. However, the Yellow
Springs Credit Union is for residents of the Village and Miami
Township and workers employed in the area. The credit union has grown
from seven members with $40 capital in 1948 to approximately 4300
members and $7.4 million in assets today. Once run by one part-time
person, it now employs six people.
Hairston remembers well the year 1977, when record keeping was changed to a computer operation. Before computers, the loan interest and dividends were figured by hand and by head.. What a relief the staff felt when the computers began doing this work!
Hairston was promoted to chief
operating office in 1978 upon the retirement of Henry Dyer who had
been COO for the first thirty years. Hairston’s relationship with the
members and personnel is outstanding. She has attended various
training sessions through the years as her job has expanded.
Dedication to service is a way of life for Hairston. In spite of a demanding job, she makes time to be treasurer of her church, the First Baptist Church*. In addition, she is a trustee, an usher, a member of Missionary Society, twice chair of the Calendar Tea, and has spearheaded a project to help South Caroline victims of Hurricane Hugo. Hairston is on the Board of Coordinated Home Care, Inc. She has helped a number of older women with their financial decisions and record keeping. They have been able to stay in their homes with security and dignity because of her work. For Hairston the friendship of the senior women is rewarding. Her work in the community benefits many.
*The First Baptist Church will be hosting a Juneteenth celebration on Wednesday, June 19th at 6 pm. Other Juneteenth celebrations are being held today: 1) a Juneteenth Family Heritage Day between noon and 4:00 pm at the National African American Cultural Center in Wilberforce, and 2) a Juneteenth fundraiser for H.U.M.A.N. At the Mills Park Hotel between 2:00 and 5:00 pm.
The Yellow Springs Historical Society’ booth for Street Fair is in front of the Yellow Springs News building, and we have a number of Yellow Springs-themed items for sale: books, mugs, maps, Antioch Publishing items, and more.
We’ll also have a pictorial display of the Depression-era CCC camp in John Bryan State Park.
The next program offered to the public
by the Yellow Springs Historical Society in which the Society adds
context to a special exhibit at the Yellow Springs Arts Council
Gallery won’t happen until September 15, but those intrigued by the
topic and/or the artistry can see the exhibit which opens today at
the Dayton Metro Library in downtown Dayton.
In addition to marking September 15 on your calendar for the Historical Society program you are encouraged to take in the exhibit already on display at the Dayton Metro Library, since the display space there allows for more of the art quilts to be shown than at the YSAC Gallery.
XENIA – On Monday, June 10, 2019 at 7:00 PM, the Greene County Ohio Historical Society will present “The Girls at Home: Parlor Harmonies from the Civil War Era” at the museum, 74 West Church St. The group consists of four sisters from South Charleston, who sing popular songs from the mid 1800s in the spirit of the homemade concerts our ancestors knew and enjoyed, accompanying themselves on a variety of stringed instruments. For eight years they have performed together; their other programs include an 1860s fashion show and bluegrass music (as Lafferty Pike).
This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. For further information about the Greene County Ohio Historical Society or its programs, please contact them at 937-372-4606 or gchsxo@yahoo.com.
Come hear the Arendt sisters at the Greene County Historical Society on June 10. They are a Clark County Ohio based group that performs historical music throughout the region, highlighting lesser known songs sung by the “girls at home” during the mid 1860s.
Miller continues to describe his early school days, this time focusing on the textbooks. It is possible to obtain PDFs of these textbooks from such Internet sources as Project Gutenberg in a nexus of past and present.
All J. Peery Miller Memoirs posts can be found by clicking on the “Blog Multi-Part Series” tab above in the menu bar.
From the year 1854 to the spring of 1864 I attended the whole or a
part of each yearly session. This was Bethel sub-district, No. 6,
Bethel township, Clark county, Ohio.
Generally a winter session of four months, commencing the first or middle of November, was taught by a man, and, if public funds held out, a lady was hired to teach a spring or summer term at a much reduced salary. During my attendance I recall the following men teachers: William Tennant, S. Miller (my brother), Kemp Gaines, Harrison Hardacre, Harvey Wallace, Mr. Tolbert from Springfield, Ira B. Miller. The lady teachers were Catherine Shellabarger, Malissa Gaines, Fannie Harris and my sister Catherine Miller. The latter was employed to teach both the winter and spring terms – an experiment which was considered rather hazardous by the old school disciplinarians. It was thought that a lady would be unable to manage the big boys who attended the winter session. But their alarm was not necessary as her discipline was as good, if not better, than that of men predecessors. A special preparation for teaching gained by attending school at Antioch College enabled her to adopt new methods of teaching which created a new interest in school work.
But little attention was paid to grading and classifying pupils in the country schools at this period. Uniformity of text-books was requested but not always insisted upon. Ray’s Practical arithmetic for ciphering and Colburn’s or Stoddard’s for mental exercises were in general use. Two classes in geography – one primary and one advanced – were heard daily. This subject required much memory work for one to be able to repeat the names and locations of the capital cities, chief towns, rivers, bays, seas, mountains, &c., after the routine method of reciting then in vogue. As history was not taught as a special subject in the elementary schools at this period, much depended on the knowledge and willingness of the teacher to enlarge our ideas in this important branch of knowledge when teaching geography. I must confess, however, that I got very little knowledge of general history from this source.
Maps on rollers from the Collins School
Kirkham’s English grammar was the text-book used by older pupils, none receiving any special language drill until he was mentally strong enough to master the rules and regulations laid down by this author. Only a small percentage of the pupils studied grammar, especially of the boys, as the boys could see no use in the subject. Artithmetic was the essential subject for young men as a knowledge of it could be or more practical use.
With no incentive to advance beyond the curriculum of the district school much time was wasted in going over and over the same ground year after year. Some of the young men, eighteen or twenty years old, were perfectly contented with a knowledge of the three R’s, – ‘rithmetic, ‘riting and reading, the latter being eliminated if deficiency in that branch became so apparent as to become embarrassing to the reader if paraded before the whole school.
