Richard H. Thornton Library
A very important, if not the most important, work undertaken by the Woman's Club was the establishment of the Oxford Library. It was a simple and modest beginning around 1912 with a few works of fiction and reference, and a cash donation of about $10.00, and a small bookcase in a young dentist's parlor.
The patronage and interest soon outgrew this arrangement and several other plans and moves were made, valuable books of science and experience, history, poetry, biography, and fiction placed upon the shelves so that anyone could find most anything for their entertainment or instruction in the Oxford Library, which had been moved into a bright attractive room in the Britt Building. It was furnished with comfortable chairs and reading tables, where a paid librarian gave excellent service to the borrowers and visitors every morning between the hours of 10 and 12:30 including afternoon services on Saturday from 3:30 to 5:30. There were at that time over 1,200 volumes in the library offered to Oxford and Granville County citizens for the small fee of $1.50 per year, the price of one single book of fiction.
Since its organization, the library was supported by the Woman's Club and the fees from the subscribers. However, with only 53 regular subscribers, and only 250 books loaned on payment of 5 cents per volume, the club had struggled to keep the library going.
The patronage and interest soon outgrew this arrangement and several other plans and moves were made, valuable books of science and experience, history, poetry, biography, and fiction placed upon the shelves so that anyone could find most anything for their entertainment or instruction in the Oxford Library, which had been moved into a bright attractive room in the Britt Building. It was furnished with comfortable chairs and reading tables, where a paid librarian gave excellent service to the borrowers and visitors every morning between the hours of 10 and 12:30 including afternoon services on Saturday from 3:30 to 5:30. There were at that time over 1,200 volumes in the library offered to Oxford and Granville County citizens for the small fee of $1.50 per year, the price of one single book of fiction.
Since its organization, the library was supported by the Woman's Club and the fees from the subscribers. However, with only 53 regular subscribers, and only 250 books loaned on payment of 5 cents per volume, the club had struggled to keep the library going.
The library moved into a room in the old Oxford Buggy Company Building which was being used as the Granville Agricultural Building during the 1950-60 time period. The picture to the left shows an inside view of the library at that time. The picture below shows the outside of this building. The library was on first floor to the right as you went in the front door.
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Richard H. Thornton library, pictured below, opened in 1964. The Granville County Library System presently consists of the Main Library in Oxford and three branches in Creedmoor, Stovall and Berea.