Cook Memorial Library, Libertyville, Illinois

[LIB0149]

From the back of the card: Built in 1880's as summer home of Ansel B. Cook. Became the village library in 1924.

Ansel Cook’s will of 1894 stipulated a brick or stone memorial be constructed at a cost of at least $10,000 and that a library be attached. However, the will stipulated that nor more than $2500 should be spent on books.

In 1910, the Alpha Club, forerunner of the Libertyville Women’s Club, opened a circulating library. The books and periodicals were initially stored in Decker and Bond’s Drug Store and later in the Village Hall. The Club donated its library to the Cook memorial Library following the 1920 death of Emily Barrows Cook. After the mansion’s front porch was removed, the exterior stuccoed, the pillars added, and the upper floor converted into living quarters for the librarian, Cook memorial Library opened in 1921. [Thanks to the Libertyville Mundelein Historical Society]