Preface: I grew up attending the one-room school in Edmonson, located in the Ozark Hills of Benton County. The school had one meager book case of reading material that had to serve all eight grades. I loved to read, so I read what was available over and over again. When the Boonslick Library came to Benton County in 1958, they establisheded a branch located on Main Street in Warsaw on the south side of the courthouse. When my family made our trip to town twice a month, I requested to be left at the library and while my parents tended to business, I selected the large sack of books I would take home to enjoy for the next two weeks.
I was a little akin to a starving man that had just found his way into a gourmet kitchen where all the food was free. I gorged myself on Hemingway, Steinbeck and all the histories I could find time to read and it was glorious. As deprived of good reading materials as I thought I had been, I was brought up short when I learned about the good people on Mount Sherman in Newton County, Missouri and how one man singlehandedly made books available to them.
Ted Richmond had been born in Nebraska in 1890, the son of a pioneer doctor. As a young man, he served in WWI, but when he returned home, he attended Iowa Business College and then went on to the University of Chicago. He eventually found his way to the Ozarks and worked for the folklorist, Otto Ernest Rayburn, helping publish the magazine Ozark Life.
When the publication sold in 1931, he moved to Mount Sherman in Newton County. He homesteaded 150 acres in the hills and named his newly constructed home, “Wildcat cabin” in honor of the bobcat that followed him when he selected his building site.
Richmond soon began lending his Bible to his neighbors who wanted to read it and had none of their own. This made him realize the need for reading material and he began a letter writing campaign requesting book and magazine donations. Soon, books and magazines came pouring into the small post office in Plumlee, Missouri and Richmond found himself carrying them home in a backpack to his Wildcat cabin. In the ensuing years, he had donations from all over, and from some very notable people, including Eleanor Roosevelt.
Richmond was concerned about the libraries future if he wasn’t around to keep it functioning so he had it incorporated and put an Advisory Council in place to protect it. By 1952, word of the “hillbilly library” reached a freelance writer who put together a story for the “Saturday Evening Post.” It was not a flattering article to the local residents and depicted Richmond as a man “trudging through the wilderness with a backpack of books”. Although the story had not been flattering to Richmond himself, or the area, it was free press that made the world aware of the scarcity of books in the Ozarks.
The first known library in Benton County was organized by the Women’s Improvement Society in about 1910. With Mrs. E.M. White as its president, the women established a free book circulating system in an upstairs office room of the old bank of Warsaw at the southeast corner of Main and Van Buren Streets. Members took turns keeping the library open on specified afternoons. It closed when the Improvement Society disbanded.
For about three years, beginning in 1930, the E. T. Robbins Drug Store maintained a paid circulation library. Then in 1933, a public library was set up by the McCormick Book Club. It was located in one of the small juror’s rooms in the Circuit Court in the Benton County Courthouse. Books were donated by citizens to a committee spearheaded by Miss Florence Hudson, an English teacher at the school. She often served as a librarian alongside Miss Genevieve Drake and Mrs. George Huse.
The library remained in its cramped quarters in the court room until the construction of the Warsaw Community Building in 1936. It was then moved into a front room at the entrance of that building. Miss Drake remained as the librarian, assisted by Mrs. Joe White and a Board of Directors.
In 1934, Mrs. Mahlon N. White and Mrs. E.T Robbins had circulated petitions for a small tax to be used to pay a librarian and other expenses of a Warsaw Public library.
In 1958, arrangements were made for the Boonslick Library to place a demonstration project in Benton County. This continued for one year and then the county voted to become part of the Boonslick Regional network for regular service. The library was located in the Neff Building, across from the courthouse and other services included a bookmobile to several areas in the county.
The Warsaw Public Library donated their books to Boonslick and a one mill sales tax was passed to become a permanent part of Boonslick Regional that was located in Cooper, Pettis and now Benton Counties.
By 1960, they had moved to a new building behind the Roxy Theater on Washington Street. It had other locations over time until it moved into the present location on Commercial and Jackson Streets, and the services have continued to grow.
In the early 1970's, several citizens in Cole Camp inquired about the possibility of establishing a branch library in Cole Camp. The community had been served by the bookmobile since the 1950's and it had always been one of the most popular and heavily used stops the bookmobile had.
By March of 1973, talks and planning had begun in earnest, the effort being spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce. They had received advice and projected start up costs from Richard Parker. They had decided to rent a building on Main Street that had been a dry cleaning establishment (now Farmers Mutual Insurance) and made a deal. The owner remodeled the location, and the chamber donated $500 toward the projected start up money. They petitioned the county court for $1,500 from federal funding and were given $1,000, then the City of Cole Camp gave $500.
The Jaycees contributed money for chairs and tables and the Jaycee wives contributed the drapes. Mayor Henry Vogler donated a chair and a desk and many other residents contributed physical labor and moral support.
Mrs. Patricia Beckman was hired as the librarian out of 25 applications for the job. The Cole Camp location of Boonslick Regional Library opened on November 9, 1973, at 1:00 PM. The hours were Tuesday-Friday 1:00 PM-5:00 PM and on Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
Later, the library moved closer into the downtown until Mrs. Mildred Junge and her daughter, Carol June Loomis constructed and donated the present day structure on West Main. It was gifted to the town by Mrs. Junge and Mrs. Loomis and is designated as the Junge Memorial Library to honor the Junge family, one of the early settlers of the area and to ensure the town of Cole Camp will always have its very own source of books and learning.
Thank goodness they have made that an actuality and made Emily Dickinson’s thought always possible, as Ms. Dickinson once wrote, “There is no Frigate like a book to take us to lands far away.”