In the fall of 1985, Edward Morris, Supervisor for the Town of Westmoreland, contracted with William Hasanauer, director of the Mid-York Library System, to service a Reading Center in the new Town Hall. A room 18'x 24' was designated for use by the Reading Center. Previously, the Mid-York Library System Bookmobile made stops in town. January 15, 1986, was the grand opening with 800 books on loan from Mid-York. Cynthia Barns was appointed Senior Library Clerk and served until 1990. At that time, Riley A. McFadden was appointed Senior Library Clerk, and continues to serve in this position at the present time. With the Town's guidance and funding, Mid-York's dedicated service, and the enthusiatic community support, the Reading Center soon outgrew its original location. Through efforts of the Town Supervisor, Hubert Pritchard, and the Town Board, ground breaking began in July 1999, for a new 35'x 80' Reading Center and Historical Society Building, just north of the Town Hall at 50 Station Road. On October 21, 1999, the big move began. Volunteers included the Town Highway Department employees, high school students, including the football team, library volunteers and patrons of all ages. By the afternoon of October 22, 1999 all the books were moved and the Reading Center was ready for business. At present,(January, 2012) the Reading Center owns more than 15,000 books, an assortment of DVD's and video tapes, local history files and genealogy material. At the present time the Reading Center in connected to the "WORLD WIDE WEB" with online computors.
