In the 1890s Flora Anderson Kemp (1861-1957) and other women in Wichita Falls circulated books among friends. After many attempts to begin a library, Mrs. Kemp in 1916 asked her husband, pioneer businessman Joseph Alexander Kemp (1861-1930), for a public library building as a Christmas gift. In 1918 Kemp presented the main structure of this building to the citizens of Wichita Falls. The community donated 4,000 books and raised money for furnishings. While the building has been enlarged and remodeled several times, the original structure remains intact. (1979)