History of the Library

The Cochranton Area Public Library opened on August 1, 1969, in two rooms of an old house that had been part of the former High School cafeteria building. The house included an attached building that had been moved from Keystone Ordnance Works in 1946. The Library remained in the front part of the house until it purchased the property from the Cochranton United Presbyterian Church in 1980 and remodeled the attached building. On April 21, 1983, the Library expanded into the newly remodeled space.

Due to roof and foundation issues that plagued the building over the years, a capital campaign was launched in 2012 to build a new library on the rear parking lot. Groundbreaking was held in May 2014, and construction began in December 2014. We moved into our new 3,000 sq. ft. building in September 2015, and the former library building was dismantled soon after.

A member of the Crawford County Federated Library System (CCFLS) since 1978, Cochranton Area Public Library celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2019.