Vernonia Eagle, July 28, 1966
TODAY, this modern building houses the Vernonia
pest office for which O. T. Bateman is postmaster.
The office moved to this building in February of 1954
and was a model for other offices in the area because
of its up to date features.
Library Given
Start by Study
Club in 1925
PRESENT Vernonia postmaster is O. T. Bateman, pictured here at his
desk in the post office. He came to the post office in Vernonia as a clerk
in 1925 when the office was on Third street (now Madison avenue) back
of what is now Kate’s Cafe. He saw the office move from there to the
building on Bridge street known as the Early building, next to the pre
sent drug store; from there to a part of what is now the clinic building,
and in 1954, to the present building on Jefferson avenue. In 1965, Bate
man became postmaster upon retirement of Emil Messing who had been
the postmaster under whom Bateman had worked all the time he had
been in the post office. His service in the Vernonia post office has been
continuous since 1925 with the exception of his leave of absence during
World War II for service with the armed forces.
One of the facilities in Vernonia
of which the community can be
justly proud is the public library
in the city hall which has on its
shelves nearly 3000 volumes cover
ing fiction and non-fiction, science,
history and many source books and
encyclopedia which are available
for all residents of the area. New
books are being added continually
and the library is constantly im
proving its service to the commun
ity.
Records that are available indi
cate that a group of women organ
ized as the Vernonia Study Club
started the library ball rolling in
1925. A petition was presented to
the city council asking that they
appoint five women to serve as a
library board for a public library
to be installed in the Vernonia
city hall. They recommended the
following five: Mrs. Gooding, Mrs.
Tipton, Mrs. M. D. Cole, Mrs. Mc
Neil and Mrs. Marsh, the latter to
serve as librarian without compen
sation. The motion carried.
Little can be found about the
early years of the library effort.
Apparently in 1928 further steps
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47
were taken to get a library really
organized. This time, on February
20 a resolution was presented to
the city council asking that they
establish a free public library and
appoint a library board. Those
named at that time were Mrs. C.
W. Reithner, Mrs. M. D. Cole,
Mrs. W. A. Harris, Mrs. Fred
Brewer and Mrs. J. W. Wilkerson.
March 16 of that year this board
met and established a once a
month meeting time for the board
and set library hours as from 1 to
5 p.m. At their next meeting in
April they voted to hire Miss Lois
Malmsten as librarian for a salary
of $20 per month. She served until
October 1932, and in the meantime
had changed her name to Clark.
Several served short terms as
librarian between 1932 and 1934.
They were Miss Louise Malmsten,
Miss Kathryn Malmsten and Miss
Merle Mills. In April of 1934, Miss
Edna Owens was appointed and
served for several years. Others
w*ho served after her were Miss
Zonweiss Douglass, Mrs. E. J. Dou
glass, Mrs. Phyllis Bonsilaw and
Mrs. Mona Gordon. Present libra
rian is Mrs. Olivia Brickel who
took the position in 1960.
Among names that figured large
ly in the beginnings of the library
were Mrs. Franklin Malmsten who
served as secretary for the board
for many years and also as presi
dent, Mrs. L. H. Dewey, Mrs. E.
S. Thompson, Mrs. Mark Moe,
Miss Bessie McDonald, Miss Hazel
Malmsten, Mrs. Wm. Colver, Mrs.
D. L. Smith, Mrs. Lillian Hanson,
Mrs. C. W. Hieber, Mrs. Ray D.
Fisher, Mrs. Harry Sandon, and
Mrs. Harry Culbertson.
In the early days of the library
when there were not too many
books on its shelves, many books
were brought here from the state
library. An allotment of books
could be obtained for a certain
period of time and circulated by
the library to augment their own
supply.
Over the years, a building fund
was started and many organiza
tions in Vernonia raised money for
this fund. This was used a number
of years ago for some remodeling
work at the city hall which extend
ed the front of the building to
make additional room and new
shelving was installed to make the
library the size it is today.
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