Drake Free Public Library, Centerville, Iowa

[LIB0344] - The Drake gift proposal was formalized by an April 9, 1901 letter to 'The Honorable Mayor and the City Council of Centerville, Iowa. Therein the Ex-Governor officially announced his intentions to give the Library to the city. His statement read as per follows: "The undersigned having long recognized the beneficial influence of education on the moral and intellectual development of people, as well as their happiness and welfare, and believing that no greater good can come to the people of the city of Centerville than through the influence of a well equipped and permanent free public library, and desiring at this time of my life to show the love for the city in which I have lived so long and to evince my earnest desire for its future good, I have decided to make the city, through its common council, the following proposition for the establishment and maintenance of a free public library for said city and its people." Read more here.