[LIB6422] - Mason City’s first library started in 1871 and was not a free public service but rather a subscription library. Only paid subscribers were allowed to borrow books. The project did not last very long and in 1888, a second library opened as a reading room. That ended when, in 1892, the city’s voters decided to levy a one mill tax on property to support a free public library. [Read more of the history of this library here]
A Patton and Miller design, this library was dedicated on January 10, 1905, but by 1940 a new library was opened. It now houses private businesses. [Wikipedia]
