Rachel Kohl Community Library

Specialties

The Rachel Kohl Community Library serves the communities of Bethel, Chadds Ford, Chester Heights, Concord and Thornbury with access to all of Delaware County. The library’s mission is to celebrate the joys of reading, learning and leisure time by providing either directly, or to serve as a gateway, a variety of informational, recreational and cultural resources.

History

Established in 1979.

The Rachel Kohl Community Library exists today largely because of the efforts of one remarkable woman who, seeing a need, dedicated herself wholeheartedly to the task of starting a library in western Delaware County. In 1950, Rachel Kohl and her family moved to Concord, a rural area with one small elementary school and no library.

«The closest libraries were either in West Chester, Wilmington, or Media and eventually everybody got tired of driving around for books,» said Rachel, a lifelong lover of books who worked as a medical records, church and public school librarian. «I thought it would be worthwhile to try and get a community library going that could help the school children with their work.»

By early 1979, volunteers amassed enough book to fill a small, vacant closet at the Concord Elementary School and the Community Township Library, as it was then known, officially opened for business.

In 1981, the library joined the newly formed Delaware County Library System and expanded