Ridgeview Library

The library was a hub of the neighborhood. Ridgeview Library began with 420 books loaned through the WPA, and in 1943 they withdrew them all; the library had to rely on Lenoir-Rhyne College, the segregated and all white, Hickory High, and private lenders. Despite this, by 1945, the library had 12% of the community as registered borrowers and over 1,800 books.

Twelfth Street Library went through numerous name and location changes. The Twelfth Street Library was located in a building rented from Ridgeview native, Mr. Norwood Patterson. The library soon had too many contents and moved to the basement of St. Paul AME Zion Church on July 18, 1946. Interest in the library continued, and it quickly grew too large for the church’s basement as well. In 1946, the Hickory Altrusa Club began raising $10,000 for the construction of a new building. Now located on Thirteenth Street, it evolved into the Thirteenth Street Library. And in January 1951, the library opened as the Ridgeview Public Library the second public library in Catawba County. 

The second librarian, Mrs. Menzie Henderson, worked there for over twenty years. Tales of how Mrs. Henderson would personally retrieve the books from patrons who did not return them loomed over the neighborhood. Through her leadership, she helped organize cooperation between Ridgeview School and the library. She held the library open two nights a week with Ridgeview Principal Taft H. Broome, so school children and older people in the community could continue their learning and get help with their school work. The school and library relationship continued, as teachers would regularly assign their students classwork that required the library’s use. Community involvement grew as well, with local Girl and Boy Scouts troops working periodically with the library, reading nights for the children, and collaborations with churches and clubs. 

As the need for the library grew and technology advanced, the small library could no longer supply the community with what was needed. In 1999 a new Ridgeview Library opened, over four times bigger than the previous one. Around this time, the old library was set for a new site to make way for the new library. Old Ridgeview Library moved further down Thirteenth Street, now known as First Street. And in 2017, Old Ridgeview Library reopened as a museum to honor the neighborhood’s history. Spearheaded by local churches such as Morning Star and Friendship, the library is now on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Hartsoe, Drucella Sudderth. The Hill: Memories of the Ridgeview Community. High Point. The Marshall Group, Inc, 2001.

Twelfth Street Library. 1944 Annual Report, n.d.

Thirteen Street Library. 1949 Annual Report, n.d.

Ridgeview Library. 1950 Annual Report, n.d.

“Ridgeview Library Community Asset.” Hickory Daily Record, August 26, 1965. 

Goldberg, Jon. “Old Library May Get a New Address.” Hickory Daily Record, April 19, 1998. 

“Ridgeview to Get New Library Branch.” Hickory Daily Record, June 26, 1997.