History:

The Seminole Community Library has progressed immensely since its founding in 1960. As with many public libraries, it began as a civic project of interested and dedicated community leaders and has grown into a strongly supported cultural showcase in the greater Seminole area.

The library was established with about 3,500 books on July 12, 1960, by the Seminole Ridge Business and Professional Women’s Club and was first housed in a small cottage provided by the Seminole Branch of Home Federal Savings and Loan of St. Petersburg. The “cottage library” was staffed by club members and located on Lake Drive behind the Savings and Loan office near the corner of Seminole Boulevard. and Park Boulevard. Lots of hard work and devoted volunteer service to the new library earned the club first prize in the St. Petersburg Times’ Women’s Club of the Year contest.

Rapid growth in the following years made it necessary for the library to have a separate operating organization as well as a larger building. In June 1964, with the collection having grown to some 6,000 volumes, the Women’s Club turned over operation of the library to a newly formed Friends of the Library group which later developed into the state-chartered Seminole Ridge Library Association. The following year Home Federal Savings and Loan again came to the rescue and offered additional space in a newly acquired motor court, also on Lake Drive, near the “cottage library.” On November 10, 1965, library service began in the new facilities. Under the capable leadership of library volunteers and supporters, including numerous civic groups and local businesses, the library thrived.