March 4, 2025 - The Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library welcomed the community into their newly remodeled facility with an open house on February 21, 2025 to celebrate 50 years of the library being at its current location and the completion of its renovation.
Shelby County Chamber of Commerce President Deborah Chadwick congratulated the library saying, “First of all, I just want to do a quick welcome on behalf of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and the community. I’m just so excited to see everybody here and I truly believe that that’s a true heartfelt testimony to how important our library is and has been and will continue to be.”
Librarian Sandra Davis spoke about the location's beginning and the timing for the open house, “When this building was built it was completed in November [1974] but they waited until February [1975] to do the dedication. And so, that is the reason we put it off until February to do it.”
Roy Davis, the library’s grant coordinator added, “Center has had a library for longer than fifty years, I think in the 50s is when some ladies got together and decided Shelby County and Center needed a library and so they got donations together, bought a few books, put them up in the old county jail and then later on somebody took that and bought, I think it was Mrs. Mann Pinkston, provided a house on Pecan Street. [She] moved it over there and it was there for a long time.”
Mr. Davis then spoke about the current library building which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. “In 1972, I think it was, Mrs. Fannie Brown Booth’s son decided he wanted to do something to honor her for her years of experience, all the dedication that she had to education over at Timpson.” After the son figured out the funding, the building was completed in 1974 with the open house for it being held in the Spring of 1975 which is 50 years of having a library in its current location.
Library staff from left: Librarian Sandra Davis, Librarian Assistant Shawn Lowater, and Grant Coordinator Roy Davis.
The Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library is a non-profit organization. It is funded through fundraisers at the library (book sales), grants, private donations, and the support of the City of Center for operational expenses. Mr. Davis highlighted the Tocker Foundation because it was a grant received from them which made all the new fixtures, flooring, furniture, and shelving possible. In addition to the Tocker Foundation grant, funds came from the Still Water Foundation as well as generous private donations to finish out the funding of the renovation.
Mrs. Davis expressed appreciation to those who helped, “We are very proud of the people that gave and we can’t tell you how much we appreciate it.”
“The funding, the support from the City, the funding and support from… the people here. We have, we are not just a city library, we have patrons from Shelbyville, Joaquin, Tenaha, Gary, Carthage, San Augustine. We have people that come to the library to check out books here and we do still check out books,” added Mr. Davis.
City of Center Mayor David Chadwick (right) acknowledges Sandra Davis' 20 plus years of service.
Next, the City of Center Mayor David Chadwick gave accolades to Librarian Sandra Davis because she has been with the library for 20 years. He added, “You have heard the story of the library… when Roy [Davis] was talking about the individuals and the families, the donations that come in are gifts of love that are here. When people come as a family and say we want to dedicate an area to my family because reading is important, always remember the most important thing that we can give a child is the gift of reading. It opens doors that can never be closed.”
Deborah Chadwick presented the Library staff with a plaque celebrating the 50th Anniversary.
To learn more about the library and to see its new design, take a trip to 619 Tenaha Street in Center. The library is open Tuesday through Thursday (10am-6pm), Friday (10am-5pm), and Saturday (10am-2pm). You can also visit the library online at https://www.centerlibrary.org/ to find out more information about programs and services offered.
Roy Davis recognizes plaques honoring major donors of the library.
Local authors visited with patrons of the library during the open house activities.
