Greenbrier County Public Library

History :

At the time of its construction in 1834, the building that would become the Greenbrier County Public Library was erected to serve as a law library for the use of judges and clerks of the Supreme Court of Virginia, which met in Lewisburg. It was built by James Frazier, then owner of the Star Tavern, a building adjacent to the new library which would one day become known as the North House.

According to the book Lewisburg Landmarks, by Ruth Woods Dayton, after the state of West Virginia was formed in 1863, the Virginia law library was relocated to Richmond and the building itself was used for other purposes, including as a Masonic Lodge.

During the Civil War, the building was used as a military hospital, and a section of the original wall plaster with the penciled names and regiments scrawled there by soldier patients is preserved to this day.

In 1935, the building was acquired by the town of Lewisburg and was restored and modernized. In 1941 the building was dedicated as Greenbrier County Library. The Greenbrier Historical Society at one time occupied the upstairs portion of the library, using the space as a museum. It served that role for the next 66 years.

In the late 1970s, the library acquired a new neighbor in the form of an annex building, which had at one time served as a slave s quarters located elsewhere in Lewisburg. The small building was renovated and served as a meeting room and activities room for the library.

In the mid 1990s, the board of directors of the Greenbrier County Library decided that the library was quickly outgrowing its home. Plans were discussed for either relocating the library to a larger existing facility or to raise funds to build a new facility. The later decision was made. After much work and much fundraising on the part of the library s Capital Campaign Committee, ground was broken on what would become the new home for the Greenbrier County Library in 2005.

On July 20, 2007, the new facility opened its doors to the public, located across the street and just up the hill from the original library facility.