Escondido Public Library

The Library had its start when, in 1890, the Escondido Dramatic Club began to use its profits to purchase books and make them available at a local school "for the use of the pupils and the general public".[2] The Escondido Public Library first opened its doors in February 1891.

The Escondido Public Library Association was established in 1893 and tasked with finding more a more permanent location for the public library. Thus, the Library moved to the Bank of Escondido, located at the corner of Grand Avenue and Lime (now Broadway). On the March 13, 1893 meeting of the association, the by-laws and constitution were adopted and a week later, the Library Board of Trustees were elected for a term of one year.

In 1894, the Escondido Land & Town Company donated two lots of land to the Escondido Public Library.[3] The first library building was a small one-room building located on the eastern end of Grand Avenue. This library served the community until 1910. The building was moved to Grape Day Park in 1971.

In April 1898, the City of Escondido took over the Library's operation, making the Library a City department.

Mrs. W.H. Baldridge, as secretary of the Library Board of Trustees, appealed to Carnegie Library committee for funding to build a new library. With Andrew Carnegie funds, and a gift of land, a new library was built in 1910 on Kalmia and Third Avenue.[4]

In 1956, because of limited space to serve a community of over 6,000, a new library building, now the Mathes Center, was constructed on the same spot. By 1980, Escondido had grown to 67,000 persons and the library incorporated children's and audiovisual services.

Through the efforts of the Library Board of Trustees and City officials, revenue-sharing funds were set aside for a new facility. Library operations were moved in December 1980 into the present two-story, 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m²) building. In June 1996, the 13,000-square-foot (1,200 m²) East Valley Branch was opened in the East Valley Community Center on East Valley Parkway. In 2011, the East Valley Branch Library was closed and the Escondido Technology Center (ETC) was re-opened in part of the original space. In June 2016 the ETC was closed. In December 1996, the Pioneer Room was opened in the Mathes Center adjacent to the main library.

Located in the brick Mathes Center building next to the Main Library on 247 S. Kalmia Street, the Pioneer Room was established in 1992, with bequest from local historian Frances Beven Ryan (1901–1990). The research room and archives is a part of the Escondido Public Library that provides the community non-circulating reference material. The local history collection includes books, journals, photographs, and archival material. The family history genealogy research material primarily contains reference books.