Today’s Bellevue Regional Library, a three-story structure at 110th and NE 12th St., is the eighth building to serve that purpose.

When it opened in 1925, the first Bellevue Library occupied one room in a grocery store on Main Street and 100th Ave. NE. It had only 300 books, discards from the Seattle Library.

The Bellevue Women’s Club, which started the organization, used bake sales, auctions, the Strawberry Festival and other charity events to raise money for book acquisitions. As the library grew, it moved into a building on Main Street and then again into the basement of an elementary school.

In the 1930s the library found a more permanent home in the Bellevue Clubhouse on 100th Ave. NE. The library remained there for 20 years and welcomed its first salaried librarian in 1944. 1944 was also the year that Bellevue joined the King County Library System.

In the 1950s the library was on the move again, first to the basement of a bank building and then to the former Sacred Heart Catholic Church. In 1966 the city of Bellevue constructed a new building next to the City Hall at 116th Ave and Main St.

The current location on NE 12th St. opened in 1993.

Heritage Corner is a weekly feature in the Bellevue Reporter. Material is provided by the Eastside Heritage Center. For more information call 425-450-1049.