History:
In 1990 the Board of the Park City Library, realizing the Library was outgrowing Miners Hospital, began to look at options for more space. Board members considered an annex to Miners Hospital, a new library building, and the renovation of another old building, the old Park City High School. They decided on the high school because it offered the potential for flexibility, and the space to serve the growing community for 15 to 20 years. The Board spent a year and half year holding public meetings to gain community and municipal support.
The original building was completed in February, 1928 for just under $200,000. It served as Park City High School for 49 years. The building was abandoned in 1981, and ownership transferred to the City. It stood boarded up and in disrepair for 12 years while many projects for the site were proposed and rejected.
The campaign for the preservation of the high school resulted in the $2.5 million restoration and its 1993 reincarnation as the Park City Library and Education Center. The imaginative renovation kept the best of the past and designed a beautiful, serviceable, public building. The Library is located in the old gymnasium, and offers 17,000 square feet of space on two floors, triple the space of the Miners Hospital Building.
Community members again showed their support for the Library. Tax dollars paid for the construction and operating budget, but much of the money for the expanded collection came from private donations. These benefactors are recognized on the Founders Club Glasswork at the circulation desk and a ceramic tile Distinguished Donor Wall display in the Library.
