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Bay St. Louis, Mississippi 39520
August 13, 1976 HANCOCK COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM HISTORY
The Hancock County Library System presently consists of City-County Public Library, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi; Waveland Library, Waveland, Mississippi; and the Hancock County Bookmobile.
City-County Public Library is the headquarters for the county library system. Designed by Fred Wagner and constructed by George Hopkins, Gulfport, at a cost of $258,170.3^, the contemporary building houses the main collection and administrative units for the system. In its 9,800 square feet is a children' wing, a rare book and local history room, public meeting room, reference and microform collection, Mississippi and Louisiana collection, audio-visual equipment, and bookmobile garage.
This library unit began as a Work Progress Administration project in 193^ under the direction of Miss Louise Crawford. Located in two rooms over the Hancock Bank building with branches in outlying communities, the library relied on donations and gifts of books and money.
In 19^+8, the library was moved to the groun d floor of the Knights of Columbus building on Main Street. As the library grew, the Library Board of Trustees raised money and purchased the Plunkett home at 123 Court Street. This
library was known as the City-County Memorial Library. In 1966, the library
t
became a public library with public monies to support it. A $10,000.00 donation had been received for a new building, and other donations allowed the Board of » Trustees to purchase property on Highway 9? in 1967.