Ipswich Public Library Ipswich, South Dakota Lillian Witz, Librarian

One of the pioneer Library Associations in the state of South Dakota was founded in 1886 by a ladies library association when most communities were not thinking about libraries, but rather of how to wrestle a living from the dry soil.

At that time, Ipswich was a railroad terminal and there were quite a number of young men who when off duty had nothing to do and "time hung heavy on their hands." The ladies' objective was to open a room where these young men can go to read and spend time profitably. In 1895 the building then in use burned, with all the books and records destroyed by fire. Another fire occurred in 1898, but only 75 books were saved. After that, efforts were made to get a Carnegie library for Ipswich, but the lack of financial backing to match the Carnegie donation caused the project to fail.

In February of 1904, the City Council decided to give the library some support and they set aside $100.00 for its financing.

Through a lecture course and offerings of such plays as" If I were King," "In Old Virginny" and "Miles Stones," and by giving socials, selling baking powder and flavorings, the library kept growing and in 1919 the city took over its support.

Although the original members of the library association are gone, their dream of having a nice building in which to house the books had come to pass. In 1930 the Marcus P. Beebe Memorial Library was dedicated in the building presented to the city by Mrs. Marcus P. Beebe. At that time the name was changed from the Ipswich Public Library to The Marcus P. Beebe Memorial Library. Present at the dedication were Governor Warren E. Green, Honorable Doan Robinson, President of the Historical Society, and Miss Leora Lewis, State Librarian. Mrs. Beebe stated in her presentation speech that, in wrecking the previous library building, it was the desire of Mr. Beebe that "Ipswich should be a place in which it is easy to be good and hard to do wrong."

One outstanding event in that first year was the meeting of the South Dakota State Library association, which was held in Aberdeen. The last session of that meeting was held in theMarcus P. Beebe Memorial Library in Ipswich.