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Moving - Lexington Park, Maryland

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Have you read the history of Lexington Park, MD? Well, here is a brief summary for your pleasure.

A Brief History from Lexington Park, Maryland

In 1948 Mrs. Mary Davidson bought Tudor Hall and offered it to the County for a library. Mrs. Davidson hired a restoration architect and renovated the building. The county was not willing, at that time, to fund the library so Mrs. Davidson provided operating funds as well. The building was deeded to the newly formed St. Mary's County Library Association with the understanding that should Tudor Hall ever cease to be used a public library it would revert to the Davidson family.

A bookmobile and a community branch were added in 1951. The first Lexington Park Library was housed in one room in the Frank Knox School. Later, it was moved to two rooms in the Felix Johnson Community Center.

Mrs. Davidson died suddenly and the county agreed to honor the outstanding debts. For a number of years the library operated on a very meager budget with limited staff. Very few new books were added during those lean years while the county paid off the earlier creditors.

In 1956, the Library Services and Construction Act was passed which provided funds for rural libraries. It was this Act which made it possible to expand the Lexington Park branch. At about the same time State Library Laws were passed that provided for State Aid to libraries. To be eligible for State Aid, a county library had to have a professional librarian as a director. Because of this requirement, the Boards of Library Trustees of Charles and St. Mary's Counties, with the help of the State Division of Library Extension, began to negotiate an agreement to share a director. St. Mary's County would provide a cataloger and Charles would provide the services of their Director, Miss Doris Holmes. By 1958 the terms of the agreement were worked out.

Miss Clark, State Librarian, suggested that the Boards of Library Trustees for Charles and St. Mary's might consider extending the agreement to include Calvert County as well. As a result the Southern Maryland Regional Library Association (SMRLA) was born in 1959. This system was founded on the philosophy that more effective, efficient, and economic library service could be provided cooperatively than any one of the three small county libraries could provide on its own. The system worked under this agreement until 1995.

In 1995, the structure changed. Kitty Hurrey, Library Director of SMRLA and the three library systems since 1968, retired. With the sharp increase in growth taking place in each county and the resulting increase in library services, a new structure was proposed by each of the three Library Boards. SMRLA and each of the library systems would have their own director. Mary Wood served as the Director of St. Mary's County library until her retirement in 2003. Kathleen Reif was appointed the director in 2003.

In 2004, St. Mary's County Library has three branches: Charlotte Hall, Leonardtown and Lexington Park and an outreach van which visits childcare homes and centers and some senior centers.

ICC MC 414146
DOT 981371