Downtown Library Construction

Please pardon our dust and noise at the Downtown Library while the exterior stone gets restored. All library services are still available. We hope to bring you an improved facility. 

A Library Is Born--RIPL the Prequel

Program Type:

150th Anniversary

Age Group:

Everyone
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Event Details

Before Rock Island Public Library became a public library, there was a subscription library which started in 1855. This program will take you back to the very beginning when Rock Island's library was born.  Let's take a look at what it was then, before it opened in 1872 to become Illinois' first public library.