History
The Hosston Branch was established in 1931. Hosston School, which was constructed in 1931, had no room for a library, so the branch was located in a two-room building that belonged to the school board and was being used as a community building. The branch remained in this building for several years but then moved to the Hosston Post Office. In 1974, a new brick building was constructed by the Village of Hosston to house the Village Hall, the library, and a garage for the Village fire truck. The library room was 350 square feet in size.
The library’s 1996 capital tax issue offered the municipalities with a part-time library branch a chance to apply for a grant to remodel, add onto, or replace their existing branch facility. The municipality would retain ownership and maintenance responsibilities for the building. Hosston Mayor H. Gorben McKinney applied for the grant amount designated for villages below 800 in population, which was $65,400. Later the village received a further grant from the library of $10,000 for furniture, fixtures, and equipment making the total amount granted by the library $75,400. The Village of Hosston purchased the former Citizen’s Bank Building located at 15487 U.S. Highway 71 and renovated it as a library. The architect was William L. Gary. The construction company doing the renovation was Integrity, Inc. The size of the building is 1,768 square feet. The branch opened to the public on May 16, 1999.
The first librarian at Hosston was Miss Faye Jolley, followed by Mrs. G. S. Knox in 1938. Mrs. Knox was the librarian for 28 years and was followed by Merle Ann Reneau. Mrs. Mable Kirby was hired as the librarian in 1970 and served in the position until her death in 2005. The branch is open 21 hours per week.
