George Memorial Library

Mission Statement

The mission of Fort Bend County Libraries is to provide an environment of lifelong learning and enrichment for the entire, diverse community, through responsive service and access to timely and accurate resources.

History of George Memorial Library

George Memorial Library is the central library of the Fort Bend County Libraries system, and houses the administrative offices for the entire system. This building opened in 1986, when the main library moved from its original location in Rosenberg, Texas, by Polly Ryon hospital. The new, 77,000-square-foot building, located on six acres, was funded by the George Foundation. The impressive building, which has become renowned throughout the county and beyond, both for its architecture and as the very-visible, primary symbol for the library system, was designed by Ronald Wedemeyer Associates, Ronald Wedemeyer, Design Architect.

Then County Judge Jodie E. Stavinoha, who worked closely with The George Foundation, was very instrumental in bringing the new building to fruition. Because the county had, at that time, no cultural arts center, the planners wanted the library building to include a gallery on the bottom level for exhibitions and an amphitheater for performing arts events, to provide the community with free, cultural arts programming opportunities. The plaza adjacent to the amphitheater has a fountain as a focal piece; in 1991, a water sculpture designed and created by local kinetic artist Jaroslav Belik was donated by former library director Lillian Stavinoha Humpola in memory of her late husband, Cyril Humpola. The amphitheater was named the Jodie E. Stavinoha Amphitheater for the judge in 1997, and the gallery was named the Bohachevsky Gallery, in honor of long-time county librarian Roman Bohachevsky, when he retired in 2000.

George Memorial Library opened in 1986 with unfinished areas, for future expansion. In the 1989 bond election, funds were included for that expansion, as well as for installation of an automation system. The automation conversion was accomplished in 1991, and in 1995, the partial expansion of George Memorial's second floor allowed for the relocation of the Audiovisual Department from the first floor to the second, the addition of the Distance Learning and Telecommunications Center, and inclusion of a conference room and several study rooms. The final expansion was completed in 2002, with the addition of two conference rooms, a new computer lab, and additional study and bookstack space. The biography collection was relocated from the first floor to second.