Library History

The Poynette Public Library first opened in October 1941 under the sponsorship of the Poynette Women’s club in an annex of the telephone company on the corner of Main and Seward Streets. Most of its 850 volumes were donated, and it was open for eight hours each week. In 1954, the collection was moved across the street to the first floor of the Kerr Building on North Main. In the winter of 1963, it was again moved to the Village Hall in space originally used as a community hall and gymnasium.

The library became a joint library in June 1965 when the Women's Club entered into an agreement with the villages of Poynette and Arlington and the townships of Dekorra, Lowville, and Arlington. Monetary support was based on population. The library joined the South Central Library System in 1981. At that time, Arlington Village and the townships of Dekorra, Lowville, and Arlington chose to support the library through their county tax appropriations, rather than directly. The 1965 joint agreement was formally terminated by the Village of Poynette on January 15, 1993.

The current library is located at 118 North Main Street. This single story building, constructed in 1966, housed a portion of a hardware business owned by Joseph Brendel from 1946 to 1993. The business also occupied the adjacent two-story, turn-of-the-century building to the south, which now houses the Historical Society. An interior double-door adjoined the two buildings.  (As part of the expansion of the current library in 2014, the Library and Historical Society were placed on different parcels and the Library and Jamieson Buildings were put on the same parcel.  The door between the Historical Society and the current Library building was removed during the renovation of the Jamieson building.)

On April 1, 2013, the Village Board agreed to donate the Jamieson Building to the Library for use as an expansion for the children’s area and to create a meeting room.  In the fall of 2013, a capital campaign was launched by the Friends of the Library with a goal of raising $100,000.  Architect Jim Gersich of Dimension IV of Madison was hired to draw up the plans and Nic Bortz of McGann Construction in Madison was hired to be the Construction Manager for the Jamieson Expansion Project.  Renovation on the historic Jamieson Building began in February, 2014 and was completed in June, 2014.  This expansion added 1700 square feet to the 3500 square feet of the existing Library.