Cotton Pickin's

A newsletter for the patrons of Mary Cotton Public Library
April 2005

A Brief History of the Library

    Mary cotton lived from 1842 to 1912. During her life, she collected quite a collection of books, and once operated a library from her home. Upon her death, she left the books, furniture, carpets and real estate where her home was located for the purpose of a city library. The house was located on Washington Avenue, across from the current location of the library. She also left $3000 for the benefit of the library, and a reading room.
     Instead of using the Cotton house as a library, the city wanted to build one in the city park. This was the issue of debate, because the who owned this land gave directions upon his death that the land should only be used for park purposes. Finally, though, it was decided to build the library on this location. Until it could be built, however, a portion of the currently named United Bank served this purpose.
    The library was built as a WPA building during the depression. During the 1950's, the upstairs was used as a class room for first grade students. The west room upstairs had also been used at one time, as the meeting place of the Business and Professional Women, and the Latter Day Saints used the "Little Theater" as their Sunday meeting place. (We assume the "Little Theater" is the big room upstairs, where gymnastics classes are currently held.) In 1956, the library was redecorated, including new paint, floors, and blinds for the windows.
    The Cotton house was torn down in the early 1970's. There was a sketch made of the Cotton house for the library in 1983, based on a photograph taken in 1912. This can be still be seen near the front desk of the library.
    There are a few interesting facts about objects found at the library. The sundial, for example, was owned by Mary Cotton. A newspaper clipping form 1908 states that this might be the only known sundial in the state of Kansas. Another example is the painting found in the entrance of the library. The title of the painting is "The Princess of Prussia", and it was painted by Robert Shroud, better known as the Bird Man of Alcatraz.
    The library has been a popular place since it was built in the 1930's. Over the years, it has changed to meet the current needs of the community, from holding classes for the overpopulated grade school, to the more modern computer lab. Why not be part of the library's future.

Summer Reading Program Outlook

    All of the children are surely looking forward to this summer's reading program. Information will be sent out to the schools near the end of the school year. This year's theme is "Dragons, Dreams, and Daring Deeds." Be sure to mark your calendars for June 10th, when there will be a program featuring Mr. Stinky Feet, an award-winning children's entertainer.

Cotton Pickin's Book Review

    The book selected this month was "Going Postal", by Terry Pratchett. Each chapter begins with an overview of the chapter, which I found very helpful. The prologues made no sense to begin with, but the book does explain the prologue later on.
    Moist Van Lipwig was a man that had made a living out of conning people. He is given the opportunity of a life-time by Lord Vetinari, ruler of Ankh-Morpork - either be killed of become the Postmaster for the city. He chose the second option.
    The post office hasn't been in use for years. It is up to Moist to get it running again and deliver the mail, without the results the last four Postmasters received- 'accidental' death. To accomplish this, he must rely on the help of a few elderly postmen, a young man obsessed with pins, and a half  dozen golems. But delivering the mail means taking on the Grand Trunk clacks communication company, headed by Reacher Gilt, Who may be more of a con-artist than Moist.
    It all leads to a show down between the Post Office and the Grand Trunk, with an ending you might not expect. The epilogue was definitely unexpected, but brought a sense of finality to the story.
    "Going Postal" was a fair book. There was some brief language throughout it. There were also some parts, mostly dealing with the Trunk board members, that seemed to drag, but if you like science fiction, futuristic and yet old fashioned books, give "Going postal" a try. 

Last Updated: June 8, 2005