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With the reopening of the Wentworth Library on May 6, we wanted to take a look at the history of libraries in West St. Paul. It officially starts in 1960 and spans three buildings, though the roots go back to the 1920s.
Women’s Club Library
In the 1920s, the West St. Paul Women’s Club created and hosted their own library for the public, according to a history shared by Lucy Mae Bangtson in 1988. Women in the club went door to door with their children asking for donations of books or money to support the library. The kids would haul the books to the library in wagons. The library itself was hosted in the front room of the home of Alfred and Katherine LeFevre. Bangtson remembers Albert LeFevre hauling books with the other children. Albert later drowned and Albert Park was named for him. Bangtson didn’t remember the drowning, but said: “He is alive in my memory as a helper gathering books.”
Library at Dodd School: 1960-1962
The former Dodd School housed the headquarters and main library for the Dakota-Scott Regional Library, the first official public library in West St. Paul. The aging building housed the library from November 1960 to November 1962.
Emerson Library: 1962-1992
The Dakota-Scott Library moved to a new, permanent facility at 40 East Emerson Avenue next to the Spartan shopping center (today this is roughly where the entrance to the Menards lumber yard is).
- Size: The 7,500-square-foot facility “housed 40,000 volumes, plus numerous records, films, and periodicals and featured a special children’s room.” It also included the library system’s headquarters until 1974.
- Cost: The City of West St. Paul initially split costs for the library, paying for half the land (bought for a total of $4,500) and construction, as well as half of the ongoing maintenance. By the 1980s, the city was paying for all of the maintenance.
- Name: By 1969, the Dakota-Scott Library System separated and the Dakota County Library was born. The building then became known as the Emerson Library.
- Ceremony: The Emerson Library was dedicated in a ceremony on December 9, 1962. The American Legion color guard raised the U.S. flag, and West St. Paul Mayor Arnold Kempe, Dakota County Board Chair Henry Gackstetter, and President of the Library Board Mrs. Philip J. Broderson all made remarks.
Wentworth Library: 1992-Present
The Wentworth Library opened on November 1, 1992.
- Size: Wentworth Library is 28,500 square feet and initially housed 60,000 volumes with capacity for 100,000 (though by 2000 it housed more than 134,000 items).
- Cost: A total project cost of $5.6 million, including $3.5 million for design and construction, $400,000 for furniture, and $300,000 for materials.
- Name: Wentworth Library is named for Wentworth Avenue, following tradition to name Dakota County Libraries after the street they face. Kay Brown, the manager of the Emerson Library in 1991, suggested naming the new library after Kathryn Loff, the first director of the Dakota County Library System. “I thought it would be a good opportunity to give the new building a name that relates to the library system’s own history,” Brown said. The Dakota County Board of Commissioners decided a building should not be named after a living person and went with the traditional approach to library naming.
- Design: A library newsletter from 2000 described the library’s appearance: “Striking in appearance overall, its most impressive architectural feature is its ‘great hall,’ a large open area where a semi-circular wall of windows affords a lovely panoramic view of Oak Grove Pond.”
“This is a beautiful building,” said Jo Lockwood, the public relations coordinator for Dakota County Library in a 1992 Sun Current article. “I think it’s going to be a real asset to the area.”
Renovations
Dakota County has a rotating renovation process to keep their facilities current and up to date. Wentworth Library has been renovated twice now:
- 2007-2008: A $1.2 million remodel that rearranged some of the spaces and added a centralized computer lab and automated book drop. The library closed for roughly four months for the renovation, hosting a temporary space in the Northern Dakota County Service Center. The library reopened on January 22, 2008—with people lined up waiting for the opening—and hosted a grand renovation celebration on February 14, 2008.
- 2025-2026: A $7.4 million project to update aging systems, add more study rooms and meeting spaces, and give everything a needed refresh. The library closed for 13-months (see work-in-progress photos), again hosting a temporary space at the Norther Dakota County Service Center. The library will reopen with normal hours on May 6, 2026 with a celebration event at 5:30 p.m.
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(Photo credits: Dakota County Historical Society and Dakota County Library)
