ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 30, 1996 TAG: 9605300116
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
The Roanoke Public Library might not be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year if Sarah Caldwell Butler hadn't been around.
Emily Keyser, retired assistant city librarian who is heading up the 75th anniversary observance, said Sarah Butler was instrumental in starting the first library.
"We owe her a great deal," she said.
Butler was a community-minded woman, the wife of W.W.S. Butler Jr., a Roanoke urologist.
One of their sons is M. Caldwell Butler, a Roanoke lawyer and former 6th District representative to Congress.
With Sarah Butler leading the way, a citizens committee was formed in 1920 to work toward establishing a public library.
In her campaign, Butler pointed out that 20 cities and towns smaller than Roanoke - then with a population of about 30,000 - had free public libraries.
As a major mover in the campaign, she approached Roanoke City Council about restoring what was known as the old Terry-Goodwin House in Elmwood Park for a library.
Council members were reluctant; some thought Roanoke did not need a library and others thought there was little interest in one.
But they told Butler that if she could raise $30,000, the city would put up the rest. Newspaper and library records show that she organized a fund-raising drive and toured the city making speeches on the streets appealing for money.
Legend has it that she used a flatbed truck as a stage for her speechmaking.
In one week - Library Week April 19-24 - she raised about $27,000. Members of City Council said that showed there was sufficient interest, and agreed to allow use of the Elmwood Park house.
The library opened on May 19, 1921, and Butler was a main speaker at the opening ceremony. She also served as president of the first Library Board.
In the same campaign, funds were raised for a branch library in Gainsboro, which opened in December of that year.
In a 1971 interview, Butler said that getting a public library in Roanoke was her proudest civic achievement.
Butler, a children's librarian, is memorialized at the central library in Elmwood Park by a statue of a child reading a book done by artist Betty Branch of Roanoke. The child who posed for the statue was Allison Doughty, daughter of Doug and Beth Doughty of Roanoke. The library staff has named the statue "Sarah" in honor or Sarah Butler.
Butler died on Dec. 2, 1983, at age 91.
The library operated in the Elmwood Park house until 1952, when part of the current building was constructed. The old house was later razed and the new library building was renovated and expanded in 1984 .
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Sarah Caldwell Butler not only led the charge for aby CNBpublic library in Roanoke but helped raise $30,000 to get it
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