The Ridgway Public Library was established in 1899 under the auspices of Mrs. Kate Maria Hyde Hall, wife of Sen. J.K.P. Hall, and the Ridgway Village Improvement Association. In that year, Mrs. Hall urged her fellow VIA members to establish this library based on the VIA's mission of improving the cultural, civic, educational and intellectual growth of Ridgway's citizens and a library would encourage such improvement.
The original library was maintained in a house on South Broad Street owned by Miss Eliza Brooke at the site of the present Trinity United Methodist Church. Books and services were provided by volunteers until a librarian was hired.
In 1904, when the Brooke house was moved back on its lot to accommodate the building of the church, the library was relocated to a small wooden building on Baker Alley. It was Mrs. Hall who supervised this move and it was she who provided necessary bookshelves and furniture.
As this second home of the library was marked for demolition in 1921, Mrs. Hall once again was the library's saving grace, offering the former Center Street residence of her son, William E. Hall, to the library association with the stipulation that it be used for a library for at least 25 years and it assume the $10,000 mortgage for the house.
The new library opened its doors to the public in March of 1922 and has been in this same location for the last 85 years. In 1924 the Ridgway Borough Council voted to levy a tax in financial support for the library. Also in 1992, the library received its charter and became the Ridgway Free Library Association. Today the library receives the bulk of its funding through the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Ridgway Borough, Ridgway Township and its own fundraising drives and events.
Residents who live in Ridgway Borough, Ridgway Township, Horton Township and Spring Creek Township are eligible for free membership at the Ridgway Public Library, which serves approximately 9,300 people in those areas.
The library currently occupies the main and second floors of this four-story brick mansion. The Ridgway Public Library Board of Trustees is currently working on expansion and restoration plans for the library.
