The Shorewood-Troy Public Library serves the village of Shorewood, Illinois and its surrounding areas. The library is near the intersection of U.S. Route 52 and Illinois Route 59.
Library statistics
FY2021[1]Information Population served: 19,235 Circulation: 171,930
History
On Monday, November 17, 1975, the Shorewood-Troy Township Library opened its doors to residents of Shorewood. The original building was a storefront in the Shorewood Plaza on US Route 52, containing over 2,000 books, magazines, cassettes and records.[2] Originally part of the Burr Oak Library System, residents had been using the Burr Oak bookmobile as their library service since 1972.[3]
Originally labeled as a “demonstration library”, the storefront library operated under federal grants for several years.[4] In May 1976, the Shorewood-Troy Library District was formed, after a referendum passed establishing a library board and new tax rates.[5]
By 1980, the community of Shorewood was outgrowing its small storefront library, so the search for a new site began. In June 1984, a library construction grant of $250,000 was awarded to the district. Land was donated just north of the Shorewood Plaza by George and William Michas and Chris Dragatsis for the new building.[6] The official ground-breaking of the new 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) facility was August 16, 1984.[7] The Shorewood-Troy Public Library opened to the public the following year. In 1992–93, a lower level of the library was completed to house the Youth Services Department and a meeting room.
