Darlington Branch History

History of the Branch

The Darlington Library was begun in 1948 in one room of the residence of Mrs. Cornelia Kirk at 1034 Main Street. The branch was open a few hours per week and the rent appears to have been paid by the Lions Club and the PTA. In 1965, the library (by this time part of Harford County Library) moved to a small room in the Equitable Trust Bank, where it stayed until the bank expanded and needed the library space. Faced with the possibility of losing the library, the original Friends of the Darlington Library consisting of 71 families and 12 businesses found a new site on Shuresville Road across from the elementary school. The building there was in poor condition, but the Friends were undaunted. They went to work patching plaster, painting, anchoring bookcases, and actually moving the collection to the renovated site. The branch opened at this site in mid-1969.

The library moved again in 1978 to a room in Darlington Elementary School as a temporary measure to await county purchase of the permanent branch site at 1134 Main Street. On December 12, 1979, the Darlington Family Reading Center as it was then called, opened at its present location. During the 15 hours of operation each week, one librarian and one page served the community. Reference sources and reading materials were necessarily limited by the size of the branch.

With the advent of computers and the Internet, the reference capability of the Darlington Branch became comparable with larger branches. Addition of different types of materials, an increase in hours of operation, and a larger staff all contributed to making the branch what it is today. In 2003, the branch moved into a redesigned modular building with a larger collection and more public computers.

Branch Square Footage: 1,473