Winchester Public Library

Storytelling Time at the Winchester Public Library is a great place to watch young soon-to-be Explorers. It serves patrons of all ages with traditional (paper and pencil and book) and modern (computer access) technology.

The public library was started by Ruth Clark, a retired school teacher. She started the local system that later branched into the state system, through her devotion to the project. The original library was downtown, and now houses Aunt Sadie's Quilt Shop. The impressive new library was built in the first part of the 21st Century, with a lot of history of early Winchester days preserved and presented inside.

Earlier, another woman initiated a lending library out of her home. Local school children could borrow a certain number of books, determined by the child's age, on Fridays only. The school bell would ring, children would run down to the house, pick out their books, return their old books, and run back to the school yard before the busses left.

That woman was also tied to the famous John Steuart Curry... The Lending Library was run by Mrs. Calvin Curry, John's Aunt by marriage.