Story of public libraries took long time to write in Houston.

Houston's first public library opened on March 2, 1904. The Houston Daily Post reported the next day that the "handsome and commodious structure was thrown open to citizens of Houston [ldots] and that great crowds assembled to inspect the building." (The library staff is shown above at the building's entrance on the corner of Travis Street and McKinney Avenue.) The newspaper article failed to mention that a public facility had been a long time materializing.

In the 19th century, many U.S. towns and cities tried to emulate Benjamin Franklin's efforts in Philadelphia in organizing a debating society and a subscription library. Soon after Houston was founded in 1836, …