Puyallup Public Library

Sal is a voice that rides along as you drive Washington's roads: the road ahead, the pass, the stories of the places you pass.

Eliza Jane Meeker ran the first library in Puyallup from her home, lending books before the town had formally come into being, and that home stood in what became Pioneer Park [1]. In 1880 a library association formed to broaden the service, and local businesses put up $5,000 to rent a room and pay a first librarian [1]. Near the turn of the century the place needed repairs, so the town asked Andrew Carnegie for help; in February 1912 he offered $12,500 provided the town covered a yearly ten percent for upkeep, and the Georgian-style building by Roland E. Borhek opened in February 1913 [1]. It served until the 1950s, when the county judged it unsafe because the second floor was bowing under the weight of the books [1]. A bond-paid replacement of 11,622 square feet followed, and a second bond approved in September 1999 funded the 39,500-square-foot library that opened in 2002, including a local history room holding records back to the town's early settlers and copies of the newspaper from 1903 [1]. The library answers to a five-member board appointed by the City Manager and stands apart from both the Tacoma and Pierce County systems [1].