The Curtis Public Library is celebrating its 50th anniversary during the week of August 30-September 3, with special events and guests planned all week.
The library established public access computers in 1995, and progressed from frame-relay Internet connection to dial-up, and now fiber optic Internet with always-on WiFi. These days, libraries are as much about community service as they are about sharing books.
An addition to the library was approved for construction in 1998, and what is now known as the reading room opened in July 1999. The library has long been celebrated in the Curtis community.
“There have been so many volunteers and Friends of the Library over these past 50 years,” said Linda Blanchard, current library manager. “They have sold popcorn and books, coordinated summer reading and story time, judged t-shirts and art, baked cookies, and showered the library with goods—and their goodness.”
Initially, Curtis Public Library was a branch of the Eastern Peninsula Library System headquartered in Sault Ste Marie. When Bayliss Public Library was built in Sault Ste Marie, the Carnegie Library closed, and Curtis Public Library became a branch of Bayliss. Now Curtis is one of nine affiliates in the Superior District Library, directed by Lisa Waskin.