Old Library/Worthington Board of Education Building

This photograph of the old Worthington Public Library building (752 High Street) was taken after the north wing was enlarged in 1956.

The Worthington Public Library actually began in 1803 in Granby, Connecticut. Prior to setting out for Ohio, Colonel James Kilbourne and 40 subscribers chipped in $2.00 each to finance a library for their new town, Worthington.

By 1870 the library collection consisted of some 200 books which were circulated exclusively to subscribing families by the postmaster. In 1901 the Worthington Women's Club opened a library in an upstairs room near the village green.

The Worthington Public Library got its first home of its own in 1927, when Elizabeth Jones Deshler donated money for a building on the northeast corner of the village green in memory of her grandfather, Colonel Kilbourne. Four years later, she donated money to build the library's north and south wings.

Since then, the Worthington Public Library, which serves all residents of the Worthington School District, has grown with the community. In April, 1996, the Northwest Library opened at 2280 Hard Road as a cooperative project of the Columbus Metropolitan Library and the Worthington Public Library, to be managed by the Worthington Public Library. In August, 1997, the Old Worthington Library moved into its beautifully remodeled and repaired building at 820 High Street.