Our history

The Rachel Kohl Community Library exists today largely because of the efforts of one remarkable woman who, seeing a need, dedicated herself wholeheartedly to the task of starting a library in western Delaware County. In 1950, Rachel Kohl and her family moved to Concord, a rural area with one small elementary school and no library.

“The closest libraries were either in West Chester, Wilmington, or Media and eventually everybody got tired of driving around for books,” said Rachel, a lifelong lover of books who worked as a medical records, church and public school librarian. “I thought it would be worthwhile to try and get a community library going that could help the school children with their work.”

Rachel, who is very quick to credit a group of almost twenty volunteers for working with her, contacted the Garnet Valley School District and the surrounding communities of Concord, Bethel and Chester Heights in 1978 for donations to start a library. She attended used book sales to purchase books and held book and bake sales to raise money to buy new volumes.

By early 1979, volunteers amassed enough books to fill a small, vacant closet at the Concord Elementary School and the Community Township Library, as it was then known, officially opened for business.

In 1981, the library joined the newly formed Delaware County Library System, which offers supplemental services to member libraries. In addition, the library’s service area was expanded from the original three communities of Concord, Bethel and Chester Heights to also include Chadds Ford and Thornbury.

The library was housed at the elementary schools for six years, moving from its original location to a 400 square foot classroom, which had been the former school library. In 1985, Rachel applied for and received an Ethel Sargeant Clark Smith Education Grant, in the amount of $20,000, allowing the library to relocate to four heated trailers.

“We thought we were in heaven in the trailers with a square footage of over 1,600 feet,” she said.

As the community became more populated and as the school district grew, Rachel and the board identified the need for a building of their own. Through private donations and a $300,000 federal grant from the Library Services Construction Act, Title II, land on Smithbridge Road owned by Concord Township was selected as the site for the new library.

Erected in 1989, the Rachel Kohl Community Library was so named at the request of a benefactor who “insisted to the trustees that the building be named” in her honor for her persistent and dedicated work in identifying, outfitting and raising funds.

After over 30 years of serving the community, the growth and success of the library is a testament to the woman who never wavered in her belief that it was possible.