History of the Library

The Library was founded and first sponsored by the Thursday Club, a “group of women bound together for study and literary reviews.”  On November 1, 1898, the Gallipolis Public Library, located in the Lupton block on Second Avenue, opened its doors. In 1903, the Board of Public Library Trustees was formed.  The first act of the board of trustees was to “accept the lot on the southeast corner of Third Avenue and State Street as a site for the library”.  This new Carnegie Library was completed in 1905.   In 1947, the Library Board of Trustees voted that a county district library be established to serve Gallia County.


In 1978, the Board of Trustees met at the new site of the library, a former warehouse located at 641 Second Ave., and resolved to change the name of the library building to the Dr. Samuel L. Bossard Memorial Library, in honor of the donor.  Due to a demand for increased services, an addition to the Library was completed in 1991.  In March of 2015, a 5,500 square foot addition was added to allow for continued growth of library programming.

LIBRARY DIRECTORS OF THE
GALLIA COUNTY DISTRICT LIBRARY
DR. SAMUEL L. BOSSARD MEMORIAL LIBRARY
who have been instrumental in the development and growth
of library services in Gallia County

Addie Vanden 1895-1929

Margaret Davis 1929-1943

Ruth Baldwin  1943-1944

Sylvia Taylor   1944-1945

Nellie Glass   1946-1947

Ruth Bradley   1947-1948

Janet Gregg   1948-1952   

Chap Parsons 1952-1956

Lawrence Huber 1957-1966

Kate Foster 1966-1968

Jonathan E. Louden 1968-1993

Sybil Galer 1993-1996

Betty Clarkson 1996-2007

Debbie Saunders 2008-present