From reading room to learning center, Community Library of Allegheny Valley celebrates 100th anniversary

Cindy Homburg, a Community Library of Allegheny Valley board member, looks over the 100-year timeline of the library.

Vintage library cards are on display in the lobby of the Community Library of Allegheny Valley.

Susan Wilson, a librarian at the Community Library of Allegheny Valley, reads the book “Dragons Love Tacos” to second graders Wednesday, March 9, at Grandview Elementary School.

Kathy Firestone, former director of the Community Library of Allegheny Valley, retired in December 2021 after nearly 30 years in the post.

Kathy Firestone, former director of the Community Library of Allegheny Valley, locks the door on the Tarentum branch on Feb. 20, 2020. When the Lock Street site closed, all of its materials were moved to the Harrison location.

The Community Library of Allegheny Valley branch on Lock Street in Tarentum closed in 2020.

This 1971 clip from the Valley News Dispatch archives celebrates Children’s Book Week at the Community Library of Allegheny Valley.

In this archived image from March 2004, Kathy Firestone and David Kupas pose in front of the Community Library of Allegheny Valley’s new site in Tarentum.

Kathy Firestone, former director of the Community Library of Allegheny Valley, surveys the Harrison site while it was under construction in the late-1990s.

This archived image from September 1997 shows a Ford City resident and PPG employee removing the Community Library of Allegheny Valley sign in Tarentum for refurbishing.