News: Granton (Library Opening - 11 Feb 1942)

Contact: Ken Wood
Email: ken@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Samson, Converse, Fuller, Winn, Rath, Beeckler, Osgood, Davis, Wage, Schwarze

----Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, WI) 01/30/2013

Granton - The Windfall Memorial Library, founded by Mrs. Augusta L. Samson of Minneapolis and located in the Schwarze Drug Store, will have its formal opening this evening, after which a librarian will be in charge every Wednesday and Saturday evening from 7 to 9 o'clock.

Mrs. Samson, who was 90 years old Jan. 6, came here at the age of 15 with her mother from Potsdam, N.Y. to visit two sisters and two brothers who were married and living on farms in this community.

The Windfall School, which had been started the year before her arrival, was without a teacher, so she was asked to take the examination from the county superintendent at the county seat at Neillsville, after which she was recommended for the position. Thus the library now started by her donation, after 75 years, is in commemoration of her first year of teaching.

Mrs. Cora Converse and Mrs. Lib Fuller are the only surviving pupils of that first year, and both are living in Granton at the present time.

A framed picture of Mrs. Samson hangs above the bookshelves installed in the drug store, and the public is invited to make use of the books, many of which have been donated by the people of the community. Donations will continued to be accepted for the library.

The Library Board consists of Mrs. F.E. Winn, chairman; Mrs. R.R. Rath, secretary-treasurer; Miss Bessie Beeckler, Mrs. Rella Osgood, and Miss Stella Davis of Neillsville, on the board; Miss Gladys Wage, Librarian; and Mrs. Durward Schwarze, custodian of the books.