History

For two years the facility operated with one paid librarian and a core of volunteers.  In 1986, this library became a branch of Loudoun County Public library and the former board became an advisory board. The Regional Library of Middleburg became the Middleburg Library Advisory Board.

Through a bond referendum in 1986, several new library buildings were approved (Cascades, Lovettsville and Middleburg) and the result was the opening of the newly built Loudoun County Middleburg Library facility in February 1990. Land had been obtained through a generous contract between Loudoun County and the Middleburg Community Center, which provided a 99-year lease for one dollar. This contract states that as long as the building is a library, the lease is in effect, but all improvements revert to the community center if the facility is closed as a library.

A humorous article by the late Angus Thuermer was published in Middleburg Life in 1990 describing the original citizens’ project to build the library.  The current work of the Advisory Board in expanding the Middleburg Library is a continuation of those earlier citizen initiatives.

There are six plaques in the entrance way to the current Middleburg Library that help today’s library users to remember the people involved in getting the library built.   All the plaques are dated February 1990.  They name the members of the Founding Committee in Fall 1983; the members of the Middleburg Community Center Board; the members of the Middleburg Library Advisory Board; the members of the Loudoun County Library Board of Trustees; the members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors; significant benefactors.

Middleburg Community Center Board:

Mrs. M. Tyson Gilpin, President;  James W. Stine, Vice President; Mrs. John LaGorce, Secretary; Mrs. G. Neville Turner, Treasurer; John D. Archibold; Robert B. Dale III; Mrs. Robert Eliot; Mrs. William Jay Gold; Richard E. Hall; Mrs. Thomas Jenkins; Mrs. Charles Pinnell, Jr.; George N. Slater; Mrs. John Sodolski; Mrs. James J. Wilson; Mrs. J.C. Herbert Bryant, Honorary Member

Loudoun County Library Board of Trustees:

Keith Raggio, Chair; Ron Carpenter, Vice Chair; Joan B. Alsop; Anne Bruce; Nancy Fitzgerald; Joyce Hardcastle; Eleanor Smith; Lurlene Willoughby (Nancy Fitzgerald was the Blue Ridge District representative)

Benefactors:

All the members of this community whose work culminated in the founding of Middleburg Library.  Particular recognition was extended to the following families, whose generosity and leadership were instrumental in the early years:  Mr. and Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin, Jr.; Jane Forbes Clark; James Overman Welch; several generous, anonymous donors.