By Ralphine Major

ralphine3@yahoo.com

My first memory of Lawson McGhee Library was in the sixties. I remember walking up the steps to the entrance with our mother. It was a beautiful old building across from Market Square. As I recall, it occupied the hill where TVA’s West Tower now stands. The library was later relocated a short distance away to Church Avenue.

Even following its progression, I find it hard to imagine how far the library system expanded over the decades. At one time, libraries mainly housed shelves of books for patrons to check out and return in a couple of weeks. Before purchasing our first computer more than 20 years ago, I frequented the library occasionally to use the computer. The beautiful Lawson McGhee Library was one of the many fascinating sites featured in Knox County’s Two Centuries Celebration many years ago.

Words of Faith: “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Psalm 90:1-2 (KJV).