James Memorial Library -- Heart of the Bakken -- Williston, North Dakota

Wow, this brings back wonderful memories.

This week Willistonites are celebrating a building that is 100 years old.

I always knew it as the James Memorial Library.

I was very, very fortunate. Although we lived too far from the library to walk there, and the family had very little money at that time, somehow my mother found time and money to take me to the Williston library, which has been described as a "jewel on the prairie."

And it truly was.

It's interesting. I have trouble remembering a lot of things, and the things I remember tend to have great emotional impact (which, of course, makes sense).

It's hard to imagine a library triggering memories based on emotion but that's exactly what the James Memorial Library does for me.

From the Williston Herald:

The James Memorial Library was built as a memorial to D. Willis James by his wife and son. James is also the namesake of Williston. The James family provided funds to build the library and furnish it.

James was one of the largest stockholders in the Great Northern Railway, according to a March 2, 1911, article in the Williston Weekly State.

The building was completed in 1911 and opened with Bessie Baldwin as librarian with 5,000 new volumes plus 500 volumes from the Book and Thimble Club. Ms Baldwin stayed for 13 years before taking a job with the state library commission in Bismarck, ND. Ms Baldwin was originally from Sparta, Wisconsin.

The building is in the Greek revival style, which is increasingly rare.

As noted, the library opened in 1911. A dedicated children's library room was added in 1959. I was eight years old at the time and I remember that room very, very well. I remember that we were allowed to use that room as much as we wanted but, as children, we were not allowed to go into the adult section. I assumed, wrongly, of course, that the books in the adult section were inappropriate for children. Ha.

Unless they were afraid we were going to misinterpret Shakespeare or Dickens.

Williston has a new library now. The James Memorial building is now the James Memorial Art Center.