The Corry Public Library, which serves the Corry Area School District was established in 1900. On July 27 of that year the Corry Board of Director unanimously voted to a adopt a resolution establishing a “free Non-Sectarian Public Library in the Common School District of the City of Corry.”
This Resolution stated the a large number of the citizens of Corry had urged the school board to establish a public library on a substantial and permanent basis using one room in the high school building for this purpose. The resolution also states that the ladies of Corry had raised the sum of $412.50 for public library purposes and deposited this money in the treasury of the school district.
By this resolution it was fixed that ‘the northeast room of the first floor of the new high school be set aside for such Public Library for the general use of the residents of said Common School District – Subject, however to the provisions of the act of General Assembly approved June 28, 1895.
By 1914 “the northeast room” had become too small for convenient operation of the library and the high school needed the room. in anticipation of building a new library facility the school district increased the library tax of one-quarter mill to one mill. The money from the tax increase was used to purchase land and with a grant of $15,000 from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation the library building at 203 Center St was constructed in 1917.
In the mid-1980’s the building on Center St. was becoming too cramped to house convenient operation of the library. Plans for a new building began in earnest in the early 1990s.
The move to the current location, 117 West Washington St. the former A&P Grocery was completed in 1996.
In 2015 The Corry Public Library was named a 5-star library by Library Journal magazine for it’s impressive service to the community. The Corry Public Library was one of only three awardees in the state of Pennsylvania that year and the only 5-star award winner of those three.