History

Alice Oglesbee and her father purchased the house in the 1880's.  They arrived in Spring Valley from Harveysburg, Ohio, their former home and "made history" on their way to our community by being the first persons to cross the new "iron bridge" in their buggy!  Alice was a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.

Later the property was sold to a Mr. Houston as Alice was getting up in years and she went to live in Twin Towers, a retirement home in Cincinnati. When Mr. Houston passed away, the estate gave Spring Valley Methodist Church a chance to buy the property. Reverend Samsom or Reverend Wells thought the house would be a good investment as Sunday school rooms were needed.

A junior high class met there with Mrs. Stroup as their teacher, as did a 5th and 6th grade class taught by Marilyn Jordan. Lucille's class remodeled the room that formerly was the kitchen. Sunday school "openings" were held there for a while.

In the spring and summer of 1974, i became interested in the possibility of library service in Spring Valley, not just infrequent short visits of the bookmobile, which type of service we already had, but a real permanent "branch" library. I made several trips to the main library, talked with several staff members, browsed through numerous books on "library administration" and spoke of my conccern to various acquaintances who showed eagerness to help. Inquiries were made at neighboring libraries in order to find out just how they had started and some of the problems with which they had been faced.

At the suggestion of several main library staff members, Mr. Wallach was approached in regard to this matter and the first step, an "interest survey" was conducted. Needless to say, this called for the help of a number of dedicated persons. Many hours of calling on the phone were chalked up by both men and women of our town as they recorded individual responses ranging from "no interest" to "very interested". At last, the survey was close to completion and our findings revealed approximately 97 percent support for a library here. Of the 926 persons contacted, over 50 percent indicated that they would utilize such services.

The second step, petitioning the Greene County Board of Trustees, was to be approached through the Spring Valley Township Trustees requesting a branch library here. Four or five interested persons made a presentation at a Township Trustees meeting during the fall of 1974 at which time we explained the steps which needed to be taken in order to have said library. The trustees offered the use of the township room, "as is" and "rent free" for housing provided that library hours would not interfere with stated meetings of their own and other organizations which used the room. Although no restroom facilities were available in the building, it was felt that perhaps the fire department, immediately at the rear of the town hall, might be persuaded to let their facilities be used.

Upon retrospect, we realized that the offer of the Township Trustees for use of their room would not be workable, as too many organizations were using it to permit the library to have regularly scheduled hours there, therefore, we contacted the trustees of Spring Valley United Methodist Church and asked if they would consider letting us use two rooms in Stoneburner house, across from the church, after considering this, the trustees agreed to the same conditions as did the Township Trustees, offering us two rooms "rent free" and "as is" but with the added stipulation "for four years only". At that future time, they might decide to dispose of the building to make room for a parking lot.

The third step which Mr. Wallach said, must be the actual petitioning of the Greene County Library Board which took place on November 13, 1974 when a sizeable group of citizens representing various organizations in Spring Valley attended the board meeting. A paper was presented at that time, in addition to the interest survey stating reasons why we felt there should be a library in our community. This was accompanied by a number of notes and letters expressing in and a need for such a facility in Spring Valley. Although the town and outlying areas in the township are not heavily populated now, surveys indicate that growth will occur in these areas before long making a library there feasible.

The state building inspector found numerous violations when he looked at Helen Stoneburner house, mainly due to all gas furnaces which were not contained by firewalls. Also, the restroom did not meet requirements where base code tile did not exist, door handles and locks needed to be replaced with different types of hardware and exit signs needed to be placed in strategical places. An alternative to installing firewalls was to switch to electric heat. Mr. Tish, the library's architect also inspected the house stating that it would cost from $5000-$10,000 to bring the house up to code and then we would still have an old house.

At this point we were rather discouraged as both sites for housing the library could not be used, so several members met with Mr. Wallach and Mr. Tish for advice. (By this time, funding for our branch had been approved in the amount of $9200 for 1975 plus books.) At this time it did not seem wise to ask the Township Trustees for monies as the volunteer fire departments levy had only received partial endorsement by the voters for a new building. Also, we were informed that the library board cannot furnish funds for buildings. It is limited by providing funds for salaries, utilities and books, magazines, etc. Other avenues were explored to no avail such as the possibility of a private benefactor coming forth with funds for a lot and building. Mr. Wallach finally suggested the possibility of using the bookmobile temporarily for a 6-8 month trial basis to see whether people really would use the library.

On April 2, Spring Valley Branch Library opened with its headquarters on the bookmobile, located across from the Methodist Church on Vine street. Real "Indian book-marks" were given away. Hours were set as follows: Wednesday & Thursdays 3:00-5:00 pm and 7:00-9:00 pm, Friday 10:00-1:00, Saturday 10:00-2:00 pm. A large number of children and adults used the library. We were given permission to use one room in Helen Stoneburner house for a "reading room" by the Church Trustees. This also met with Mr. Wallach's approval who said that books could be checked out in the bookmobile and then studied in the reading room. Volunteers are to be in charge in the room to keep discipline. We were also informed that we could accept donated books, magazines, records and patterns to use, thus supplementing the limited number on the bookmobile. Donations poured in and volunteers worked faithfully to temporarily catalogue the gifted books.

April 12 was set aside as the "official opening day" for our library. It was a beautiful day and we were pleased to have Congressman Clarence Brown's wife with us. Mr. Wallach and Mrs. Marshall from the main library, several Township Trustees, representatives from the fire department, the Methodist Church and the Spring Valley Library Guild. 

Other special guests were Chief Solomon Brokeshoulder and his wife who had arranged a display of Indian artifacts in the reading room.

Following the "ribbon-cutting" ceremony and a short program, light refreshments were served and an "open house" observed on the bookmobile and in the reading room.

With the help of Tish Wilson in planning it, Carol Harner conducted a children's story hour on five Thursday mornings - June 19-July 17. Twenty-two youngsters were registered with the highest attendance being 14. Average attendance was 9 or 10.

Along with the other libraries in the county, we enrolled children in the summer reading program- 64 in all! Several children were such avid readers that they filled two sheets with dragon stickers instead of one!

Voter-registration resulted in some nineteen persons "registering" prior to the November election. So far, no registrations have been received in the ensuing period.

I have spent many hours arranging donated books on shelves in the reading room, supervising volunteers who have catalogued them and assisting children with "ready reference". Although I am pleased to have a telephone now, I cannot hear it in the reading room in the winter months when both the house and bookmobile doors must be closed. Although people seem to appreciate having library service here, it bothers them not to be able to return books during hours when we are not open. A book drop would be a great asset. It wouldn't have to be the expensive mail-box type, but one which could be used in a window or door.

Plans to promote the reading of books during the christmas holidays.

Note: Helen Meredith was the first librarian when the Spring Valley Branch Library opened. The bookmobile in the parking lot by the house was the "office" but one room in the house that now houses the library was made available for library use. Citizens were urged to donate books, records and magazines to library. (in fact, we even had "sewing patterns to loan.) If my recollection is correct, the library opened in the spring of 1975.