About Our Library Friends Group
We are a new small group of people living in the Ashley area who want to support our library through gifts and donations. It is our intention to help the library upgrade items not funded by state taxes.
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The Wornstaff Memorial Public Library was dedicated in August 1928 to Albertus Wornstaff. Chesley and Ella Wornstaff were inspired by a memorial library they had visited in Florida, and made provisions in their will for a similar memorial in Ashley. The Will at the reading in 1914, provided $10,000, with $7000 towards the building and land for the erection of "a building of stone and brick". The remaining funds were used for books and supplies. The original endowment of the Wornstaff house provided $40,000 of the $70,000 needed for the 1980 addition. Another expansion occurred in 1990, doubling the size of the original building. Their forethought and generosity in creating this legacy has been a gift to the Village of Ashley for over 90 years.