Cornelia - Habersham County Public Library

About Us:

In 1941, Merle Purcell, the county school superintendent established the first library in the Cornelia Public School.  Ella Eberhart was the manager over the 349 books and other materials on loan from the state.  During the first month of operation, 131 patrons borrowed 366 total items.  In 1950, the library's adult collection was moved to a second floor room in City Hall.  After retiring in 1956, Mrs. Eberhart was succeeded by Mrs. Bob Ramey, Nan Holbrook, Lucille Dimon, Ruth Daniel, Isabelle Coffee, Glenda Ward Shore, Yvonne Berrong and then in 1967 by Elios Tench.  That same year, the library moved to a new building next to City Hall on Larkin Street built largely through efforts of Mayor Hubert Ritchie.  At that time, the collection had 11,000 volumes.  

In 1987 the library moved to its current location at 301 North Main Street with Library Board Chairman W.C. Spruill being instrumental in the the construction of the new, larger building.  After Mrs. Tench retired, she was followed by Geri Ingram, Wally Warren and then is now managed by Annabelle Wiley.  Today's library has over 43,000 items for check out with over 8,300 registered users.