Westminster Branch

Branch History

Library service in Carroll County began in 1863, when the Westminster Public Library was founded by Reverend J. A. Monroe and Dr. Charles Billingslea. The library was supported by membership dues and fines, and was open to the public on Friday afternoons. Relocating over the years from the Odd Fellows Hall to the new Times Building and then to the second floor of the Wantz Building, Westminster Public Library was still a one-room library in the 1940s.

In 1949, Mr. and Mrs. Walter H. Davis announced that they would give a public library building to Westminster and provide an endowment for its support. At that time, the Westminster Public Library turned over its operation and assets to the Davis Library. The Davis Library, housed in a former Methodist church building, was formally dedicated as a library in May, 1951.

In 1958, after ten years of lobbying, a county-wide library system was established, with the Davis Library operating as the central branch. Carroll County's first modern library facility, the Westminster Branch, opened at 50 E. Main Street in March, 1980.

A major interior and exterior renovation to the building and park began in 2008. The interior renovation included a complete redesign of interior public space and features a train-themed children's area. Improvements to the Mary Lou Dewey Park in front of the branch included a redesigned entrance, new landscaping and walkways, and the Booth Memorial Stage, a performance platform for concerts and educational programming. Private funding made the addition of Wild Imaginings, a library-inspired sculpture by world-renown artist Bart Walter, possible.