The trim brown and tan public library building that has loomed for approximately half a century at the corner of Kellner Street and Lime in the historic mining town of Superior represents a labor of love participated in by a whole community.
Operating under the aegis of the town government and also affiliated with the Pinal County Library District, Superior Public Library is a modern and up-to-date facility. It offers the latest in technology and online services, as well as traditional reading material and multi media offerings, classes and other amenities to its patrons. A dedicated, professional staff is on site led by Superior Library Director Josie Campos.
The library is a familiar sight to visitors and townspeople alike. For many years its lime and avocado green color scheme stood out like a cultural beacon at the top of Kellner Street. In recent years it underwent an identity change of sorts when it was painted brown and a downstairs entry from outside was added.
The library is a lively memorial to the determination of Superiorites to better their town by adding the resource of a library.
Superior Public Library is a gathering place for young and old. It has housed a preschool in the past and continues to present reading and other educational programs to children on a regular basis.
It has been a site for meetings and events such as a professional magician show for community youngsters that was also an opportunity for a live theatrical performance that the adults in attendance enjoyed.
The library has served as an art gallery where the artistic endeavors of Superior school students have been featured.
It is a haven of quiet for the scholarly, a place to do research in the old-fashioned way with traditional books and paper materials and the new-fangled way on computers that access the world through the internet.
It is a place to read the local newspaper and far flung publications from around the world, pick up flyers on community happenings and books to take home and curl up with or sit awhile and read right at the library.
“Of all the departments of town government,” says Superior Town Council Member Lynn Heglie, “the library gives us by far the biggest bang for our buck. Computer classes, recreation, movies, entertainment and skill venues can all be found at the library and they don’t cost the public a dime. Remarkable!”
But before the spring of 1951, the idea for a library in the town was just a gleam in the collective brain of a small group of dedicated individuals. The main project of a newly formed club (the B&PW) was for Superior to have a library.
By fall of that year another group, the Civic Council, started the ball rolling. Made up of representatives of various clubs in town, the Civic Council’s purpose and mission was community improvement. A year’s worth of effort on the part of the Civic Council resulted in the provision of a library building by Justice of the Peace Dale Webb and Pinal County Supervisor Joe Spray.
The new library was to be in a 12 x 24 foot shack located to the rear of the jail. Prison labor and donated materials were used to get the building shipshape for its opening in October, 1952.
Young and old pitched in to provide the initial books. Tomes were collected in a door-to-door collection drive, participated in by different groups including the local Campfire Girls.
The B&PW Club held tag day sales to fund the project. In May, 1953 the Queen Creek Tunnel east of Superior was dedicated and the resultant local Tunnel Celebration Carnival provided a book fund for the library.
Next month, see how the Superior Library outgrew its digs and moved to its current location.
(Information for this story was provided by Superior Public Library from documents on file, including past written histories of the library and clips from The Superior Sun newspaper, as well as personal interviews and other sources.)
