History of the Downtown Yakima Library

The Women's Christian Temperance Union organized the first reading room in a building on S. First Street in 1889. In 1891, the North Yakima Library Association was formed and the group moved the library to the county school superintendent's office in the same building on S. First. This library housed 128 volumes and was open each Saturday from 3 to 8 p.m., with members of the association taking turns as librarian.

In 1901, the Reverend Hamilton W. Bartlett, rector of St. Michael's Church began communicating with Andrew Carnegie about building a public library. Mr. Carnegie replied in 1903 with an offer of $10,000 to "erect a free public library for North Yakima."

In 1904, the Yakima Public Library was established. In 1907, the Carnegie building was opened at the corner of Third and A Streets where the current library now stands.

In 1944, Rural Library District #1 of Yakima County was established by election. In 1951, the Rural Library District and the City of Yakima pooled their library activities into the Yakima Valley Regional Library.

In 2006, voters in the City of Yakima approved annexation of the three city libraries into the Yakima County Library District effective Jan. 1, 2007. These include the Richard E. Ostrander Summitview Library, the Southeast Library and the Downtown Yakima Library. The combined city and county library district will be known as Yakima Valley Libraries.