York County Public Library Golden Jubilee

As Yorktown commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we also celebrate a significant milestone of our own, the 50th anniversary of York County Public Library’s accreditation as an official public library system in 1976 by the Virginia State Library, now known as the Library of Virginia. Like the birth of our nation, the library’s history began years before any formal declaration or official recognition.

In 1968, members of the Grafton Bethel PTA and the York County Volunteer Association established a small library in the old farmhouse that remained on the grounds of Martin Farm, located in front of what is now the Townhomes at Martin Farm. The library opened in September of that year with just 2,500 books. One year later, with the help of many dedicated Friends of the Library, it had grown to 700 registered members, a collection of 9,000 books, and more than 5,000 checkouts.

In 1971, the library moved from the farmhouse when York County government began formally supporting library services by employing one librarian and renting retail space in Grafton Shopping Center, in the location now occupied by Yorktown Yoga and Wellness. 

By 1976, the library had an appointed Library Board approved by the Board of Supervisors and met state standards to be officially recognized as a public library system eligible for state funding. York County Public Library had finally arrived. It was not long before the library outgrew its retail space, but that is a story for another time.

Much has happened in the last fifty years. The library has grown from a small, volunteer-run operation in a rented farmhouse into a system of two state-of-the-art facilities, offering more than 100,000 items for checkout, serving over 40,000 registered patrons, and recording more than 700,000 annual checkouts.

As we celebrate both the nation’s semiquincentennial and fifty years of York County Public Library, we encourage you to become part of our county’s proud history of promoting literacy, literature, lifelong learning, and public engagement through participating in our anniversary celebration fundraising campaign.