Rural libraries often serve as community gathering places. Public voting, educational activities, and more take place in public libraries and the historic library in the Town of Minersville is no different.  Located twenty miles from any other town, the Minersville Public Library was first opened in 1922 in the upstairs of the local school building. After a couple of relocations, in 1992 the old bank building was donated to the town and the library was relocated to it. Since then the library has grown in both size and functionality.

To accommodate further growth, the library required an expansion in size and new equipment. The Town of Minersville received a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to build an expansion to the library. Cherie Wood, the town Clerk for Minersville, remembers the growing pains involved as they realized with a larger library, they needed more materials. “We thought, what are we going to fill the library with?” Wood wondered, “It (the expansion) almost doubled our library size. We needed more bookshelves. We needed a new circulation desk and equipment.”

USDA Rural Development provided a $50,000 grant through the Community Facilities Program to purchase the equipment the library needed. New computers, new furniture, and other necessary items filled the addition and allows more locals to enjoy the benefits of the library. “It was wonderful we got this (grant),” said Wood, “We have a very small budget in the size of this town and there is no way we could afford to furnish the library with so little.”