News

Readers theater play celebrates library centennial

By Bill Moss, Published: August 28, 2014

A Readers Theater play will portray the founding and history of the Henderson County Public Library as part of the library centennial celebration next month.

The 35-minute show, "Realms of Gold," will be performed at 2 and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 21, at the Kaplan Auditorium.
Tom Orr, who spent his career as an English teacher and theater director in the Henderson County schools, compiled and wrote the commemorative play.
Much of the material has been taken from early press accounts of the founding and development of the Library and from other sources, including Louise Howe Bailey, Frank FitzSimons Sr., Bob "Scooter" Williams, Ernestine Nagell and Jim Toms. Poet Katherine Hamilton, a former student of Orr, has written a poem especially for the occasion called "Shhh, You're in a Library."
The organization now known as the Henderson County Public Library started as the "Carnegie Free Library" in the brick building that still stands at the corner of King Street and Fourth Avenue East. The building was provided by a grant from Andrew Carnegie, the Cleveland steel magnate, and was built on a lot donated by Captain Marion Columbus Toms.
The cast for the Readers Theater presentation will include Marcia Mills Kelso, the granddaughter of former Hendersonville Mayor Al Edwards, who served the city for 37 years (1932-1969); Hilliard Staton, a descendant of Mayor R.H. Staton; Rebecca Johnson (Gordon), whose family roots goes back to the founding of Henderson County; and Jim Toms, whose grandfather, Charles French Toms, was influential in gaining Carnegie funding. Presentation of the play is made possible in part by the Henderson County Heritage Museum in recognition of the Library's long and outstanding service to the community.