Our History
Marianna Fischer Black and her husband Stanley were community leaders in Bryson City. Stanley was a lawyer and a banker; Marianna had an interest in promoting reading in the county. In 1929, under the auspices of the newly formed Bryson City Woman’s Club, she began circulating about 40 books in town out of two old suitcases. In 1930 a club room and library was created in the Courthouse with about 300 books.
In 1938, the Works Progress Administration built the community building on the square and the library had approximately 3,000 books. Marianna Black died in 1960. By the mid-1960’s, the library, under the direction of Anna Lou Casada, was bursting at the seams.
A citizens group, headed by Edgar Fisher, Roberta Whitaker, Mercedith Leatherwood (Bacon), R. L. Lyday and John Wikle, mounted a drive to raise funds to build a new library. Land was given to the library by Dr. Harold Bacon, Swain County’s preeminent physician. These 6 people secured a Library Services and Construction Act grant of $114,000 and an Appalachian Regional Development grant of $46,000, and raised $40,000 in local matching funds for a total of $200,000. The nearly 10,000 square-foot library opened on October 31,1970 and included offices for the Fontana Regional Library.
Fontana Regional Library
The Marianna Black Library is a member of the Fontana Regional Library, which had its humble beginnings in 1944 when the Tennessee Valley Authority sponsored a regional bookmobile to visit the most remote areas of Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. Fontana Regional Library coordinates a wide range of public library services for six libraries in the region from their headquarters in the Marianna Black Library building..
Campaign for a Renovated & Expanded Library
The launch of this campaign to expand much-needed library services in Swain County comes after years of efforts to find a new home – first on land that was donated, and then in a vacant facility in Bryson City. We are now pleased to be renovating the current downtown library and increase its size, using the 0.53-acre property to its maximum potential.
