Chapter closes on JoCo’s oldest library branch, but patrons can visit new spot soon
Vaughnie Tinsley and Darline Cyre are eager to turn to the next chapter of their storied love for a library in Merriam.
The two friends are among the readers preparing for the permanent closure of the Antioch Library at 5 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. With six decades of operation, the library, at 8700 Shawnee Mission Parkway, is the system’s oldest branch. It is being replaced with the new Merriam Plaza Library at 6120 Slater St., scheduled for an official opening on March 20.
The new library is a welcomed adjustment for Tinsley and Cyre, who travel together to the Antioch Library twice a month.
“I’m happy we still get a library in our area,” Cyre said.
Tinsley can remember when there wasn’t one.
At 98 years old, Tinsley is likely one of the longest patrons of the Antioch Library. She’s also one of people responsible for getting it established.
As a child growing up in rural Missouri, Tinsley depended on a school library and her grandmother’s attic for books and reading. Tinsley said her first name is from a character in one of her grandmother’s favorite Victorian novels.
Tinsley moved to Merriam in 1950 as she was beginning her career as a teacher and later principal.
“I was one of the ones who agitated to get a library,” Tinsley said. “There were a lot of us in the schools that agitated to get us a library.
“We talked to people who mattered.”
The library system was established in 1952. In its beginning, it operated in 11 volunteer libraries located in places like a barbershop, a plumbing company and even the basement of a private home.
In 1957, the county paid for a librarian and rented space at the red brick building at Antioch Road and Shawnee Mission Parkway.
“It was terrific,” Tinsley said. “It was our library. It was our first library.”
Five years later, the building was purchased and the red brick building was not only a library but the headquarters of the Johnson County Library system.
There were numerous renovations and expansions throughout the Antioch Library’s history. In 1992, Johnson County voters approved a $12 million bond issue to buy and renovate a former discount store at 9875 W. 87th St. in Overland Park.
In 1995, the new Central Resource Library opened. The library headquarters moved, and Antioch became a neighborhood branch.
When Antioch closes, the staff will begin packing and moving all of its books and technology. Its furniture will be sold through a government surplus program. The 15,000 square feet of library space at Merriam Plaza is about equal to what was available at Antioch.
Library officials said limited parking and costly repairs are among the reasons to replace Antioch Library.
“It is time,” Cyre said. “It was getting old. There is a lot they can’t do.”
Cyre, 78, has been going to Antioch Library since she and her family moved to northern Overland Park in 1967.
“I’ve always loved libraries and I’ve always loved reading,” she said.
Cyre said Antioch Library was pivotal in making readers out of her two children — now 50 and 53 years old.
“I took them there a lot because they had all kinds of programs for little kids to get them interested in reading,” Cyre said.
Tinsley, who lives in Mission, and Cyre are looking forward to their trips to the new library.
“One thing I am looking forward to is seeing the Webb Family meeting room,” Tinsley said.
That’s because of her personal tie to history.
Tinsley said she taught Harvey Webb, one the 10 children of Alfonso and Mary Webb. The Webbs’ 1949 lawsuit to desegregate Merriam schools is attributed to laying the foundation of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case five years later. The meeting room is being named in the family’s honor.
For more information about the closing of the Antioch Library and the opening of the Merriam Plaza Library, go here.
