Or that Capt. W.H. Johnston’s creation — first housed in the office of his Fort Dodge law practice – would one day evolve into a gathering place for all the community — a focal point unlike any other public or private institution in the city.

Rita Schmidt, director of the Fort Dodge Public Library, believes he would be gobsmacked by the technological and educational offerings provided to residents today, but also would be pleased that the focal point centers on good old-fashioned books.

“I personally don’t think the desire to crack open a book and flip through its pages will ever go away,” Schmidt said. “For many people there is something comforting, reassuring and exciting about opening a book and then getting lost in its pages. And honestly, there is nothing better than sharing a children’s picture book in all of its full-color glory. Whether it’s your child, grandchild, niece, nephew or someone else important in your life, it’s a great way to spend time relaxing, bonding and experiencing the joys of reading.

“For many in our community, our library is a place they can come to for their recreational reading needs, to check out DVDs because they don’t have cable or the Internet and they want something to watch, to find answers to questions they have, to learn something new, to participate in one of our many programs for people of all ages and abilities, to use a computer or WIFI, to scan, copy and/or fax documents, to find a quiet place to hang out, to get warm or stay cool, or to just feel less alone. These are the things that make us an essential part of Fort Dodge and why we do what we do.

“Movements, ideas, programs, technology, and a million other things will continue to change over time, but our library will remain a valued and important part of our community because we provide a welcoming space where our citizens can get connected, satisfy their curiosity and learn more about their place within the global community. Simple as that.”

In total agreement is a man heavily invested in Fort Dodge history, Roger Natte, who grew up in Sibley, where “the library was books, that was it, period,”:

“You go to the (Fort Dodge) library today, you find diversity – Black people, those with Hispanic or Asian background, people with special needs – every day they are there,” he said. “The population mixture is very interesting. There’s not a place in town with that much of a mix of people.”

In 1865, Capt. Johnston lost a leg fighting in the Civil War. He studied law at Wabash College in Indiana where he met two men with Fort Dodge ties who encouraged him to come to the city of about 3,400 to practice law. He later was appointed to the deputy clerkship of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, central division, at Fort Dodge, an office he held for many years.

At the time of the Civil War, Fort Dodge had what was called the Athenaeum, a private group of educated local leaders who got together to share their books and discuss ideas. In 1870 they offered to support a library and transfer their collection of books and journals. Johnston joined the group – and what he founded in 1874 was far different than today’s public library. His was a private library association that was housed in a small library and reading room in his office – which likely was just blocks from the library’s present-day location on the City Square.

“It was typical of those days in New England, when libraries were subscription libraries, with paid membership dues,” Natte said. “Such libraries got their start in Britain; public libraries as we know them today were non-existent.

“The library was an early fit in what the leaders of the community were interested in. We don’t think of Fort Dodge as being a place of other than pioneer farmers, but the first library was aimed at people educated in the East, who were used to reading Shakespeare and attending concerts.”

Johnston’s influence was statewide. He was one of the founders of the Iowa State Library Association and served as its president. He was honorary president at the time of his death in 1911.

The appetite for a public library, open to all, grew to the point that in 1890, the first free public library was opened in Fort Dodge. Nine years later, a group of citizens began planning for a much larger building to house the growing collection of books, among them Martha Haskell, Webb Vincent, O.M. Oleson and George Ringland.

Shortly after its fundraising campaign, the group learned that a larger sum of money might be available from Andrew Carnegie and his Carnegie Foundation. Carnegie, who made his fortune in the steel industry in Pittsburgh, was a nationally known philanthropist who made grants to help communities across the nation construct public libraries.

Two prominent Fort Dodgers who lived in Washington D.C., George Roberts, director of the U. S. Mint, and M. D. O’Connell, U.S. solicitor general, were asked to personally contact Carnegie with the city’s request. On Christmas Day 1900, Roberts and O’Connell telegraphed the mayor of Fort Dodge announcing that Carnegie had approved $30,000 for the construction of a new public library building.

The architect for the new building at 605 First Ave. N. was Henry Koch of Minneapolis, and construction was done by Northern Building Co. of Davenport – the same architect and construction company hired for the new Webster County Courthouse being constructed at the same time. The stone for the new building came in rough from the Black Hills Stone Co., then was smoothed and fashioned on the construction grounds by cutters. The total cost: $47,293.

The Carnegie Library was formally dedicated on Oct. 12, 1903. But from the beginning, the building had one major flaw — a roof that leaked, causing interior damage and staining. Eventually, the best cure was determined to be the addition of a second story, a change allowed for in the original plans in the event more space might be needed. The second-story addition was opened to the public on Oct. 6, 1930.

The addition afforded the library with more space than needed and in November 1930, it was decided that the west room in the basement could be used as a museum to collect and preserve data and relics pertaining to Fort Dodge and Webster County history. As the collection expanded, so did the need for more space. In 1934, the adjoining hall was used for the museum and later in 1937, with $1,000 donated by Alice Granger, another room was renovated for additional historical relic exhibit space. The museum remained in those quarters until 1964 when the Fort Museum was established.

The library remained in the Carnegie building until 2001, when it moved into its present-day building at 424 Central Ave., on the City Square. Accessibility, structural and wiring issues in the proud old building necessitated the change. The construction cost of the new library was $5.2 million. The Carnegie building later was purchased privately, and the interior was renovated for use as apartments.

“We have a fabulous location, the square is pretty much our front yard,” said Schmidt, a Sioux City native who joined the library staff in 1992 and became director in 2016. “Soon to be close by us is the Webster County Conservation River’s Edge Discovery Center, right along the river.”

That project, a joint venture of the county and city, includes a 13,000-square-foot Nature Center building that will focus on Iowa’s water resources; its exhibits will cover the water cycle, wetlands, glaciers, rivers and streams. The project is expected to be completed by July 2024.

Today, the Fort Dodge Public Library houses 86,000 physical items – the majority of them (74,000) books, Schmidt said.

“The secret of a good collection is making sure you keep it fresh, keep it current, “ she said. “We order books every month.”

It has 11,000 audio and visual items.

In the 2023 calendar year, about 63,000 people used the library and about 12,000 visited its web site — https://www.fortdodgelibrary.org/ – which was renovated in December. More than 80,000 physical items – books, audiobooks, DVDs — were checked out.

Young people are targeted through a variety of reading programs. Schmidt said, “This last summer, we had a cooperative Lego building table. When kids check out a book, they get a couple Legos to add to build a city. The kids added 20,400 Legos to the table.”

Other successful programs involved the use of dinosaur puppets and blowing giant bubbles on the square. More than 1,200 children took part in last summer’s reading programs.

There are two touch tables in the Children’s Department that allow kids to play educational games by themselves, with family members or with other kids who happen to wander by and ask if they can join in.

“Our touch tables are very popular and a great way for parents and grandparents to bond with their kids or grandkids in new and fun ways,” Schmidt said.

After Fort Dodge schools began providing students with computers, she said, “we saw fewer kids using us for their homework needs. To help encourage them to use us for their recreational needs, we added new formats like manga and graphic novels and services and tech that encourage learning.”

The library building is the office home to the Karl King Municipal Band, the Webster County Historical Society, the Webster County Genealogical Society and the Friends of the Fort Dodge Public Library – which operates a bookstore that sells used books and other items, with profits going to the library. The library has two meeting rooms – one with a capacity of 95 that is used by groups including Girl Scout troops, a local quilters group and a number of nonprofit agencies, as well as a room with capacity of 16.

“We do serve as cooling and warming spot for people who are unhoused,” Schmidt said. “We have patrons we see on a regular basis who come down and chat for five or 10 minutes, may be living alone and like that contact.”

The library has 16 computers with Internet access and productivity software for anyone to use and six workstations with educational games for kids. WiFi is available within the building and outside around the City Square. There is no fee to get a library card initially, Schmidt said, “but if you lose it and need to get it replaced, we do charge $1. If it’s just so beat up from use that it needs to be replaced, we don’t charge for a new one.”

The library’s total operating income for the past fiscal year was $1.14 million, with government funding $900,000 of that amount, Schmidt said. It has a staff of eight full-time employees and four part-time staff and is open six days a week. Other funding comes from the library’s own foundation, the Catherine Vincent Deardorf Foundation, the Friends of the Library Foundation and the Hillesland Trust. The library operations are overseen by a five-person board of trustees who are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council.

Like most libraries, the library has added downloadable content including eBooks, eAudiobooks, magazines, comics and graphic novels, movies and TV shows, and music.

“While we continue to see use of our downloadable content increase,” Schmidt said, “this past fiscal year patrons checked out 51,000-plus more physical items (books, magazines, audio CDs, DVDs – a healthy number of DVDs, over 10,000 checkouts of DVD movies, TV shows, documentaries) than they downloaded. There are a number of reasons for this, including people not having access to inexpensive, reliable Internet, but another, more simple answer is that many of our patrons enjoy the experience of visiting the library, browsing the shelves for a good book, checking it out, and then actually holding it while reading.

“It’s amazing, even though we have all these electronic possibilities, books are still an important part of a community. I don’t think it’s ever going to change. During the pandemic, more people were reading books for pleasure and leisure than they had in the past. They are continuing that trend, wanting escapism and taking in different worlds, different ideas, through books.”

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