Avon Branch History

Avon Branch History Avon community’s first library service was a bookmobile stop provided by the Lorain Public Library System. The community eventually wanted a more permanent location. The Friends of the Avon Library worked with the Lorain Public Library System administration to help raise money to renovate the Old Town Hall building in Avon to use as a library. The building still stands today at the corner of Stoney Ridge and Detroit Road, but it now houses the Historical Society.

The Avon Branch was opened in the Old Town Hall building in 1956. During that time, the library was open three days a week – Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday for a total of 20 hours a week. The branch closed each day for an hour lunch or dinner break.

In a few years, the Old Town Hall location became too cramped to hold the library’s collection and perform all the library’s activities. In 1962, the Avon Branch opened an extra day each week, on Mondays, to be open 26 hours a week. Soon, The Friends of the Avon Library and the Lorain Public Library System administration began to look for a new site. A new location was found in the plaza behind Two Bucks (which was Pappo’s Pizza at the time) on Detroit Road. It took three years, but in 1968 the new library was ready. This location served the Avon community for the next ten years, but once again the Avon Branch quarters became too cramped. In 1983 the Lorain Public Library System then rented space for a larger Avon Branch from Vasu Communication on Ridgeland Drive. The Ridgeland location had 3,800 square feet and was remodeled to function as a library.

In 1991, a community group began to look for a permanent Avon Branch location that the community would own. The current property on Harvest Drive was considered along with other locations in the city. A citizen’s committee and the Lorain Public Library System administration decided that the Harvest Drive location was the most central location for a new library building for Avon.

On June 13, 1994, the staff opened the current Avon Branch doors to serve the community in a 10,400 square foot location. The Avon Branch has a meeting room seating 60 available for library programs and community group meetings.

The Avon community has been very supportive of library services. The citizens have passed operating levies in 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, and a building operating levy in 2020. This money supplements library support received through the state’s general tax revenue. The local levies help the library to provide the staff, materials and technology that support the Avon Branch.