In 1927 the Campfire Girls, with Marie Peel as their leader, were given permission by the Lehigh City Counsel to use the 2 unoccupied rooms above the Post Office as a City Library. The girls & their leader spent many hours cleaning the rooms to make them suitable for their project. When the area was read a book drive was launched. Everyone in town contributed books also tables and chairs were given, some of the men made chairs from orange crates donated by the merchants. The Lumber yard gave planks that the girls used to make shelves. It became a city wide project. Elsie Goodrich was the first Librarian and Ollie Johnson was the second one. In 1963, when the old post office was torn down to make room for the new one, the City Hall which had occupied the 2 front upstairs rooms was temporarily housed in what is now the Museum. And the library was stored there until the new Post office was completed. Then the library moved to the basement of the new building and the Lehigh Women's Club took it on as their project. Some of the books were lost when there was a flood. The Lehigh Public Library’s new home , built in 1976, occupies approximately 900 square feet in a metal building shared by the volunteer fire department, city hall, & city guys garage which is located on the corner of Elm and Mill Streets.
The Lehigh Public Library is a State accredited library, is a member of the Webster County Library Association and the North Iowa Libaries Collaborating. The library also participates in the Open Access Program, Interlibrary Loan Program, and the Bridges eBook program.
The Library is able to offer its patrons normal library services, including circulation of books, audio books, DVD’s, audio and visual equipment. We have two public access computers, photocopier and fax machine, and free public access Wi-Fi. Programming includes a summer reading program for adults and children in grades 1-6; an early dismissal program for all students of the Southeast Valley school district. For a complete schedule please check our online calendar.
