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1920–1921 in the centennial history; 1923 in the library's later timelines
Course: In the summer of 1920 petitions for county library service circulated through Allen County, promoted by County Superintendent of Schools David O. McComb; at least a quarter of the county's taxpayers signed. The county tax was levied in October 1920, and the institution took the name Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County. Four county representatives joined the library board in July 1921, and Corinne Metz was appointed the first county librarian on 1 September 1921. By 1922 the centennial history calls Allen County's the most extensively organized county library service in Indiana; Allen, Vanderburgh and Cass were the first three Indiana counties to establish county-wide service.
The conflict: The library's later timelines — the one carried in Wikipedia and the Allen County Genealogical Society's page — date the start of county service and the change of name to 1923. The centennial history, drawing on Margaret Colerick's own unpublished history of the library, gives the 1920–21 sequence above. Both datings stand in the sources; this section carries the centennial history's dates in the text and the 1923 dating here beside them.
Sources:
- Slater-Putt, Beyond Books (1995), ch. 2 and 4 — the petitions, the October 1920 levy, Metz's appointment and the 1922 standing.
- Wikipedia, "Allen County Public Library," timeline, and Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana, libraries page — county service dated 1923.