Speer Memorial Library
Mission, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Mission women formed the Tuesday Club in 1910 and four years later organized the Civic League of Mission to care for a city park and start a library. The library occupied a shelf in an empty store and moved between temporary sites. The Mission city council passed an ordinance to establish a library in 1929. The public and school libraries merged from 1935-47 before the city had its first permanent location on 11th Street in 1948. In 1974, Juanita Speer Farley and her husband, Hal, donated a new site to honor her parents, early settlers George and Lyda Speer, and the library was renamed in their memory. Support of the Junior Service League and Friends of the Library have made the library a key public service for more than a century. (2014)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Mission's public library grew out of women's civic energy: the Tuesday Club formed in 1910, and in 1914 the Civic League of Mission set out to care for a city park and start a library. For decades the collection moved between borrowed shelves and temporary rooms before winning a permanent home in 1948. In 1974 Juanita Speer Farley and her husband Hal donated a new site honoring her pioneer parents, George and Lyda Speer, and the library took their name.
Why it matters
The library's origin in women's clubs reflects the powerful role such organizations played in building America's public cultural institutions in the early twentieth century.
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Related people
- · Juanita Speer Farley
- · George Speer
- · Lyda Speer
Themes & tags
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