History:

For over one hundred years the Kankakee Public Library has been meeting the information needs of the residents of the city of Kankakee. In March 1896, the first Kankakee Public Library opened in the Arcade Building, located at the northwest corner of Schuyler and Merchant Street. By the fall of 1897, a drive was underway to build a new building to house the Library’s growing collection of 2,200 books.  The building, constructed on the corner of Indiana Avenue and Station Street, opened in January of 1899 and remained the Library’s home for nearly 105 years.